All Angels must Fall
by AbbyEmmaLuna
Summary: Morwen has been trained by Natasha Romanov ( aka Black Widow ) her whole life. Now she has been assigned to join agent Coulson's team on their mission to protect the world. But when hunting monsters is your daily job, how long can you keep them out? How long until the angels too, become friends with the dark? quick disclaimer : I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D or anything.
1. Chapter 1

**Ward pov**

I'm sitting in the living room, playing a game with Skye.  
>"B4." She says with a sly smile on her face. I look down and growl.<br>"You sunk my battleship." She starts cheering, but gets interrupted by May.  
>She gets to the point straight away, not even greeting us. "Coulson calls for a meeting."<br>I immediately become serious and follow her to the command center.  
>It's a rather plain room. It has a holo table, flat screens on the walls, but beside that it's empty.<br>There are no decorations or other signs of a daily use.  
>It perfectly fits the seriousness of the agency.<br>Fitzsimmons and Coulson are already there.  
>Simmons face lits up as we walk in and she gives us a small wave.<br>May ignores her and takes a stand next to Coulson.  
>Skye and I join the group around the holotable. T<br>he older agent starts talking as soon as we're ready.  
>"Fury decided to add a new member to this team. Her name is Morwen Romanov."<br>I look up in surprise, Skye next to me does the same.  
>"Romanov as in Natasha Romanov?"<br>May seems annoyed by my interruption, the corner of her mouth lowers a bit and she focuses on Coulson again.  
>"Yes, she is related to Natasha. This means she has had a similar training."<br>"There goes my chance at not being the brooky anymore.."  
>Sky mumbles, making Fitz chuckle softly.<br>_That kid should really learn to concentrate when Coulson is talking_. I think to myself.  
>"She will join us in a few hours, we will pick her up in Italy,"<br>Coulsons continues like he hasn't heard the joke.  
>"I expect the plane to be clean and you to behave."<br>May and I both give Skye a meaningful look.  
>Behaving like a professional remains difficult for her.<br>"You're dismissed. Ward, stay." Coulson ends the meeting.

I wait until everyone has left.  
>Skye and Simmons are already talking about how much fun it will be to have another girl on the plane.<br>It gives me the urge to roll my eyes. I close the door behind them and turn around to face Coulson.  
>"Yes, sir?" "I want you to be her supervising agent."<br>This surprises me. I'm not looking forward to having to train another agent.  
>I hadn't wanted to supervise Skye either.<br>_Maybe that's why agent Hill drew a little poop with knifes as her opinion about my people skills.  
><em>"What about Skye? I'm already supervising her." He sighs about me questioning his decision.  
>He thinks very high of her, therefore I should not speak of her like she's a child.<br>_Although she acts like one sometimes_.  
>"I don't t expect Morwen to be much of a problem. Besides, Skye should be able to take care of herself some more now."<br>I raise one eyebrow. "You and agent Romanov are on first name bases already?"  
>He doesn't seem to like my joke. "<br>It's just to avoid confusion, now that we have two agents Romanov in the Agency.  
>You're dismissed." He waves his hand towards the door, making it clear he wants me to leave now.<p>

As I walk away, I wonder what Morwen will be like.  
>Coulson doesn't expect much trouble from her.<br>That probably means that she is an older agent.  
>On the other hand, I've never heard of her before.<br>So she has either stayed low profile for long, or she is still young.  
>One thing is sure: she is highly trained. I decide to do some training as well, to kill the remaining time.<br>This makes me wonder about her physical capabilities, as I do my stretching.  
>My mucles are a bit sore from the combat training I had with May earlier, but it's giving me a fit feeling already. I<br>'m glad I won't have to train Morwen, like I have to with Skye.  
>Getting Skye motivated is difficult. She dislikes the hard work.<br>I like to spend my time making my body work hard, she'd rather use her computer.  
>Of course her skills are valuable too, but it won't help her in the field.<br>Maybe this Morwen will turn out to be a good training partner.  
>I quit my work-out on the punching bag and look at the clock.<br>Three hours have passed since the meeting, so I'd better take a shower and get dressed.  
>May doesn't usually uses the whole time Coulson gives her.<br>We always arrive early.

We land short after I finished getting dressed.  
>I quickly join the others to leave the plane.<br>May comes in last, since she had to make the landing.  
>She's calm as usual, not showing any hurry although we're all waiting.<br>Her professionalism is great, but she can be so stiff sometimes that even I think of it as annoying.  
>Like now, as she slowly walks towards us with an almost bored expression on her face.<br>Coulson steps out of the plane first, followed closely by May and me.  
>Fitzsimmons and Skye stay a bit more behind.<br>They're serious but curiosity is showing on their faces.  
>Fitzsimmons usually gets excited when we have a case to do and Skye, well she hasn't had any training at all.<br>She never went to the academy, since she was a Rising Tide member, leaving all the teaching to me.  
>I make a mental note to myself to teach Skye some emotional control too, the next time we train.<p>

May keeps her face expressionless. Like a mask.  
>Mine probably looks much like hers, but more humane.<br>May is the most robot-like agent I've ever seen.  
>But no-one could blame her.<br>I don't know what happened that made her the cavalry, but it destroyed the cheery women she once was.  
>Or at least, so it seems. I never know what goes on in her head.<br>Not far from us are two women waiting next to a black SUV.  
>I look at them while following Coulson towards them.<br>Natasha looks pretty and deathly like always.  
>She has flaming red hair, bright green eyes and wears her usual black leather suit.<br>It's her typical Black Widow outfit, every agent seems to recognize her when she's wearing it.  
>She's a great spy. <em>And a great women too.<br>_The thought unintentionally pops up in my mind.  
>I push it away shamefully, not wanting to get distracted.<br>Especially not by someone who's life is more like a myth than reality.

Next to Natasha is a far less striking person.  
>She's younger, early in the twenties maybe. S<br>he has light brown, almost dirty blonde hair, blueish eyes and a soft face.  
>Her simple blue jeans, plain white shirt and black leather jacket seem ridiculously normal next to Natasha.<br>She's also a lot shorter, but that can be because of her black converse shoes next to Natasha's high heeled boots.  
>From the corner of my eyes, I see Skye smile at the sight of this girl.<br>Typically Skye, only looking for friends instead of looking at the girl like another agent.  
>Simmons seems to immediately like her as well.<br>I growl silently about their unprofessional behavior, but let them be.  
>In the mean time Coulson starts a conversation with Natasha and introduces us to the girl.<br>Instead of listening to their talk, I try to look at the girl the way Skye and Simmons seem to do.  
>She now stands behind the older women, like the way I stand behind Coulson.<br>Leaving the spotlights for the leader while observing everything carefully.  
>She's a bit thin, but it suits her. Even though she looks small next to Natasha, I can see she isn't.<br>The top of her head would probably just reach my chin.  
>She looks at the team curiously.<br>She doesn't seem like an agent grown up with the famous Black Widow.  
>When she sees me looking, she smiles lightly at me.<br>Yes, she looks like someone the other girls would like.  
>She will make a good member of this team.<br>I look back to Natasha, staying professional again. Being friendly will have to wait.  
>I'd rather make a good impression at Black Widow and satisfy Coulson.<p>

"Time to go." Coulson announces.  
>He shakes Natasha's hand firm, then grabs a big bag, probably containing Morwen's stuff, from the trunk of the SUV and starts heading towards the plane.<br>May nods ad Natasha and tells Morwen to follow her to the plane.  
>She starts walking without looking back.<br>Frowning, the girl watches her go, not making any attempt to follow.  
>I say goodbye as well before turning to the girl. "Agent Morwen, you can follow me."<br>I say kindly. It would be wise to give this girl a bit of a warmer welcome than May did.  
>I know how lost I felt before I got taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D..<br>I wait for her while she gives agent Romanov a hug and I hear her whisper "bye Tasha" before going after Coulson and May.

I can imagine the plane looks big and weird to her.  
>So I quickly show her around.<br>I hastily point at some rooms, naming them or explaining the purpose (like the cage, designed to keep any kind of mutant locked up).  
>I also warn her about not to touch Lola.<br>Coulson gave his heart to that car, he doesn't like anyone to get near.  
>At the end of the tour, I take her to the living room. I leave her there with an enthusiastic Skye.<br>Mumbling something to them about training, I walk away.  
>No need for me to be there when the girly chatting begins.<br>Skye seems to have waited for that ever since Coulson announced Morwen's coming.

**Morwen pov**

The agent gives me a tour on the plane.  
>I think his name is Ward, but I didn't pay much attention to the introduction.<br>To be honest, I was a little nervous.  
>I'm great in combat, with people not that much.<br>Clint always jokes about my awkwardness.  
>Ward ends the tour in a rather large room.<br>It has a television, a bar and a bookshelf.  
>White leather couches and chairs are spread across the room.<br>Mumbling something about training, he leaves me.  
>The girl that followed us, Skye, takes two glasses of lemonade as I sit down on a couch.<br>She has brown hair, brown eyes and a pretty face. She seems glad to see me.  
>I already like her more than agent May. I thank her for the drink and smile polity at her.<br>"So.." she starts, talking a seat next to me. "You and agent Romanov don't look much alike."  
>I hear the curiosity in her voice. I laugh.<br>"Well, that's an understatement."  
>She laughs too. We both sit back, more relaxed now.<br>_Clint would be proud of my social skills_. I grin to myself.  
>"But tell me, what's with the shaken genes?"<br>"Coulson told you we're family?" Now it's my time to be confused.  
>"Related, yeah." I shake my head.<br>"No, she's just my teacher and trainer. Although she raised me like she's my big sister since I was a baby.  
>So we're like family without the blood bond ."<br>I try to explain, looking at Skye and hoping she understands my strange explanation.  
>I'm not even sure I understand what I just said.<br>I don't really know how to explain my relationship with Natasha and Clint.  
>"You're an orphan?" She asks. I nod. "Me too." It's silent for a moment, but not an awkward one.<br>Strange enough, I already feel comfortable being around her.  
>I wonder if she has ever met her parent.<br>I never did and Natasha told me she didn't know them either.  
>"I guess this isn't a proper thing to high five about?" She jokes and I decide to like her.<br>Maybe getting assigned here isn't that bad.

Suddenly, a boy and a girl come storming in.  
>I saw them outside, standing next to Skye, but I can't remember their names.<br>"Skye, did you see the night night gun?" The girl starts talking.  
>"Ward want us to get it because"<br>"he said it was too heavy last time"  
>"and we need to fix it"<br>"but we can't find it."  
>They finish each other's sentences. Cute, yet making it hard to understand them.<br>"It's in the blue bag, underneath the table in the lab," Skye answers, clearly understanding more of what they're saying than I do.  
>I guess it will become easier the more time you spend with them.<br>"Morwen, this is Fitzsimmons." They both turn to me, not having noticed me until now.  
>"O, hi," the girl squeaks. "Jemma Simmons, nice to meet you."<br>She has brown hair, but darker than Skye's and mine.  
>Her expression is soft and kind. The boy introduces himself as Leo Fitz.<br>He looks kind too, with his short curly hair and smiling face.  
>He waves awkwardly at me.<br>I surprise myself by saying "aww, you two have your own ship name. That's so cute!"  
>Skye starts laughing. I clamp my hands for my mouth in shock, blushing.<br>I apologize. "It's fine," Simmons laughs at it too.  
>Then she joins us on the couch.<br>"You can handle the night night yourself, right Fitz?"  
>He awkwardly nods and walks away, leaving us girls to chatter.<br>Skye and Simmons are really nice, we're soon talking like we've known each other for ages.  
>Talking, laughing and joking, we spend our time until Jemma declares she's tired, making me wonder where my bedroom is.<br>With perfect timing, like he waited for this moment (which wouldn't surprise me), agent Ward walks in. "  
>Follow me, I'll take you."<br>"Nice pick-up line." I joke, before hugging Skye and Jemma goodnight.  
>The agent obviously doesn't like the joke.<br>I wonder if he's always this grumpy.  
>May didn't look like much fun either.<br>But Natasha explained to me that it's because of the massacre which gave her the name cavalry.

Ward leads me the way to my room.  
>We walk in a uncomfortable silence trough the plane.<br>Luckily it's a short walk, since we're, well, on a plane. I spend it looking at him.  
>He's older than me, Skye and Fitzsimmons, but not much.<br>He wears dark, practical clothes that show of his muscles, which are really nice and well-formed.  
>He must at least be as strong as Clint.<br>His dark hair is short, clear from his face.  
>He stops walking so abruptly, I bump into him.<br>Luckily he catches me before I can fall. _Smooth, Morwen, really smooth._  
>My clumsiness makes me blush a little, especially since my last joke was out of line.<br>"Watch out," He warns me. He lets go of me swiftly, like he doesn't want to touch me at all, and opens a door.  
>"This is your room. Breakfast tomorrow at eight."<br>I thank him and walk inside, hearing him close the door and walk away.  
>It is a simple but clean room. My bag is placed on a closet next to a bed with a nightstand.<br>At least they were kind enough to do that.  
>There's a door on my left, which leads to a small bathroom.<br>A small window gives me a view of the night sky.  
>It's beautiful to see from this altitude, the stars shine bright.<br>I quickly get ready for bed and watch the sky until I fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Morwen pov**

I wake up from the sound of heavy footsteps and my door being thrown open.  
>My reflexes, perfected by years of training, immediately kick in.<br>I stand beside my bed the second my throwing knife hits the doorframe, just an inch from the intruders head.  
>A second knife is already in my hands.<br>I'm ready to throw it if the man doesn't listen to my warning.  
>I feel the adrenaline rush trough my veins.<br>"Have you gone mad?!" He screams, while pulling the knife out.  
>I now see it's agent Ward, with a shocked look on his face.<br>I lower my knife."O my god, I'm so sorry!"  
>I say as I quickly move closer to see if he's hurt.<br>I know I didn't hit him but still, it would be bad to be the cause of an injury of my supervisor.

"What were you thinking?"  
>He's still screaming, stepping forward angry.<br>He looks at me like I'm insane. Now I'm offended.  
>"You came barging into my room! What part of Romanov do you not understand?"<br>I too step forward with anger.  
>We're so close now, we could touch.<br>I feel the heat radiating from his anger-filled body.  
>"You shouldn't scare me like that."<br>He seems to understand how much he startled me. The look of anger vanishes.  
>"It's six in the morning, We have a case, so Coulson wanted me to come get you."<br>He explains in a soft voice.  
>He looks away from my eyes and immediately turns bright red.<br>"Meeting room is next to the living room."  
>He manages to say before storming out again.<br>I look down in confusion of his sudden departure.  
><em>Shit!<em> I was still in my nightwear during our talk (if you can call it that, since it was more like screaming than talking).  
>Meaning I was in my bra and very short short pants, with him so close.<br>I get dressed, my cheeks burning from embarrassment.  
>It's not that I'm insecure about my body.<br>I didn't mind Natasha seeing me in my sleeping wear.  
>She used to give me a goodnight kiss, even when I was older.<br>We stayed up talking about everything, both already dressed for sleep.  
>But she was like family.<br>This guy, this Ward. He's an agent and has already seen me vulnerable in my first week here.  
><em>Damn it Morwen. Keep it together.<br>What kind of master assassin are you?  
>You're not with Natasha anymore, you have to take care of yourself.<br>_I decide to just act like it didn't happen.  
>Maybe he'll forget about it that way.<em>.<em>

**Ward pov**

As I walk into the meeting room, I realize that I'm still holding onto Morwens knife.  
>It actually looks pretty, a bit too fancy though. It's black with golden details on the blade.<br>With a sigh, I let it slide in my pocket.  
>I'll give it back later. "Is she coming?" May asks.<br>I nod and sit down on a chair next to Fitzsimmons.  
>Everyone is fully dressed, even though it's early in the morning.<br>We've been a team for a while now, so when Coulson says we have a case, we now what to do.  
>I like being a part of this team better than I had expected.<p>

We wait in silence for a few minutes until Morwen comes in.  
>She's wearing an outfit that's much more agent-worthy.<br>It consists of a pair of black jeans, black boots and a black top.  
>Her black leather jacket is slung over her right arm.<br>Her outfit is finished with a black belt, full of weapons.  
>It all has some golden details, like her knife. I smile mentally.<br>_That's more like it._ She stands next to May, looking serious.  
>I try to catch her sight, wanting to give her knife back, but she looks straight ahead.<br>I hope I didn't offend her too much, by violating her privacy this morning.

Coulson has already started to talk so I focus on the case again.  
>I shouldn't let myself get distracted so easily.<br>"It doesn't appear to be done on purpose. More like some mutant who lost his control.  
>However, we need to find the person responsible before he or she harms someone."<br>With one last photo of the burned houses, the meeting is ended.  
>"We land in ten." May announces before taking off, returning to her pilot seat again.<p>

We take off with our SUV's as soon as we land.  
>May drives one, with me and Morwen in the back seats.<br>The other agents take the second vehicle.  
>May's driving is the same as her flying, which means terrifyingly fast.<br>We bump occasionally as we race over the muddy road, surrounded by meadows and woods.  
>My elbow accidently hits Morwen's ribs a couple of times, hard enough to form a bruise.<br>But if she has felt it, she doesn't show. She just keeps looking straight ahead.

We're heading towards the house that burned down most recently.  
>Despite her knife throwing act this morning, I am concerned about Morwen.<br>It's her first case with the team.  
>Although I'm sure she has had many with Natasha and maybe even with agent Barton.<br>I decide to give her some last advise, before we will be facing a fire throwing mutant.  
>"Make sure to stay close to me." I tell her, not sure what she's used to.<br>A duo is different from a team.  
>"Why?"<br>"Because I'm your supervising agent and I don't want you to mess up."  
>That sounded meaner than I meant to, but at least she'll get it.<br>"I can take care of myself." She snaps back.  
>Maybe I was a little too hard on her.<p>

We continue the ride in silence.  
>Soon we arrive in front of the house.<br>All around us lays partly burned debris, covered with the ash that swirls around our feet as we walk around.  
>Coulson has shown us a photo of the house how it used to be.<br>It was a pretty, red mansion.  
>But now all that's left of it are black burned parts.<br>Fitzsimmons take out some of their stuff, making the thing fly around the scene, occasionally picking up stuff to examine it.  
>Meanwhile, May, Coulson and I search around the area, followed closely by Skye.<br>We are looking for anything that might give us a clue of whom we're dealing with.  
>I explain a few things to Skye about fire mutants.<br>There are a few known by the Agency.

"Ward?" Morwen calls from behind me.  
>I scowl irritated. I had just thought of something relevant, but now it slipped away.<br>"Be silent." "Fine, I'll the footprints myself."  
>I hear her say, as I continue my search. I roll my eyes as I hear her sigh and walk away.<br>Then it hits me.  
>Footprints. She saw footprints.<br>I immediately turn around and run back to where Morwen was standing, just a moment ago.  
>I see the footprints, now two pair of them.<br>A big men's shoeprint and a smaller one, leading into the woods.  
>I follow them. <em>If something happens to her, it will be my fault.<br>_I push myself to go faster, dodging fallen trees and prickly bushes.  
>It's sunny and warm, within seconds I'm panting.<br>I run into a clearing, where a man stands.  
>He looks pale, covered with ash. There's no sign of Morwen.<br>I draw my gun and move closer to the mutant.

Then I realize my mistake.  
>This man can shoot fire from his hands.<br>His hands that are now turned towards me.  
>With shock, I see a ball of fire starting at his palms.<br>I try to take a shot at him, but my gun doesn't work.  
>With a quick look down, I see that the ash covering my weapon are blocking the trigger pin.<br>Then the fire comes blowing towards me.  
>It's too late to dodge, the mutant is too close.<br>The only thing left is to cover my face with my arms, hoping the fire won't kill me.  
>But it doesn't reach me. Just a feet in front of me, it stops and vanishes.<br>Leaving nothing but a trace of warmth.  
>I look up in relieve.<br>The man now lies face down in front of me.  
>The grip of a black with golden knife stuck in his neck.<br>Behind him, crouched between the branches of the trees, is Morwen.  
>With another knife in her hand and a focused look on her face, she looks deathlier than anyone I've ever seen.<br>_But not the creepy kind of dangerous_.  
>I think as I see her now sprinting towards me, concerned.<br>_The beautiful, reassuring kind.  
><em>She reaches me and hugs me tight, without slowing down.  
>The force of her speed makes me trip and we both fall down.<br>"Dude, you scared me!" She breaths, laying on top of me.  
>"It's Ward, not dude." I correct her informal terms.<br>I try to roll over to get up, but forget she has her arms around me.  
>With a smack, we land on the ground again.<br>Well, she lands on the ground. I land on her, crushing her fragile body underneath me.  
>To my surprise, she chuckles.<br>"If you wanted to lay on top, all you had to do was ask."  
>She jokes as she tries to get away from under my body.<br>I quickly stand up and pull her up as well.  
>I have just enough time to wipe some dirt off me before May and Coulson come running towards us.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

p class="MsoNormal"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Morwen pov/span/strong/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"I clean my blade as Ward explains to the others what spanspan style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;"Of course he leaves out the part where we were laying on the ground /spanThat wouldn't be good for his big /Although I think May might have seen some of /I chuckle at the thought of how funny we must've looked, stumbling in the /As soon as Ward is finished, Skye comes towards me and pulls me into a tight /I return it awkwardly. I'm not much of a hugger, especially when it comes to hugging / emCoworkers now/em. I correct /" With the mutant dead, we can all go back to the / No need to stop somewhere. Headquarters will send some agents to pick up the body," Coulson / He pats me on the shoulder as we walk back towards the / "It was a good decision to put you in this team."br /He says, before taking off with Fitzsimmons and / I frown, wondering if he had doubted my ability to keep up with this /Just as I'm about to get into the SUV, Ward grabs my / "Can I talk to you?" "You already are."br / I give him a small smile, which he doesn't /He leads my away from the SUV, towards a small, grassy /When he stops and turns, his face is hard and / "Never go towards a suspect alone. It puts us all in danger."br / I stare at him blankly. "You're welcome for saving your life."br / I say, sarcasm dripping from my /He just stares / I refuse to look away first, so we stand there until May interrupts /"Coulson is waiting, they're already at the /So we go. Now" She turns and walks /Something about her sets me /"Yeah, always do what daddy Phil says,"br / I growl at her, making her stop /"haha, that's what she said,"br / I continue as I notice how dirty my first sentence could have been / May turns around on her heels, looking /I can't help myself and start childishly singingbr / "May and Coulson, sitting in a tree..." br /Ward sucks in air in shock as May starts coming towards me / "O shit." I squeak and I start running away from May, up the / br /At the last moment, I realize it's not a / It's a cliff. I'm already on the top, in mid air as I take a step too / I manage to turn around and grab a rock sticking out of the / I'm now hanging a few feet under the /As I look up, I see May, still angry, making the same /She was right behind me, running faster than /I see her face as she leaps from the top of the /Realizing her mistake too late, she tries to turn /But she fails. The anger leaves from her face as fear sets /She looks at me, a cry escaping from her / But she jumped too far, I can't reach /All I, and Ward who just reached the top, can do is /Watch in horror as May falls to her death and gets taken by the /strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" br /span/strongstrongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" br /span/strongI keep staring at where she fell into the /There's no sigh of her. Jbr /ust the blue ocean, with large waves crashing down on the / The muscles in my arms are starting to ache so I lift myself up and climb back over the /My movements seem to awaken Ward, who was staring at down in /His head snaps /His eyes harden as he looks at / "Murderer!" He exclaims. I take a careful step /This fully awakens him and he starts yelling at / "Murderer! You threw her of the cliff! You killed her! MURDERER!"br / I'm too shocked to /My instincts tell me to be /But a small part in my brain reminds me that this is Ward, my team /He won't hurt / My lack of reaction makes him even /He moves towards me and tries to kick / I block it and duck as his fist tries to hit my / I turn around and run towards the SUV, followed by a furiously screaming / I'm faster and manage to get in the vehicle and start driving before he gets to /Trough my review mirror, I see him reaching for his /Breathing heavy, his lips turned up in an animal-like /But before he can take a shot, I'm already too /I can hear the shots fired behind me, but I know they won't hit the / br / br / Instead of going south, towards the plane, I go / I drive for hours. Tears running down my face as I think about Mays /emspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Was it really my fault? Am I a murderer?br /span/ememspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/emspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"I realize I will probably be hunted down by the rest of the /spanThey won't let a murder get away without having their / I decide to ditch the /Since I'm in the middle of a forest, I just leave it at the side of the /I get my stuff out of the trunk and start walking into the /There's nothing and nobody I can rely on / Besides my / They will make Skye trace my credit card, talk to everyone I know and go to every place that means something to /So I do what I've been thought by /I leave everything behind and / br /After two days I'm out of the big / I can see a town not far /What catches my eye is a car /I walk to it and trough the door as confident as I can /The salesman gives me an odd look, probably because I look like a homeless person after all this wandering / "What's your fastest car?"br / "It.. it's our Porsche 911. Ma'am."br /He stutters. I take two pretty big diamonds out of my /"I want it." "S.. sure, ma'am."br /He hands me the keys, too astonished to over think it / If I were him, I wouldn't sell an expensive car to someone looking like me..br /"Thank you." He leads me to my new car and I get in, racing away / I stay just below the speed /It wouldn't be wise to get unwanted attention /I head south, not knowing where to go / Anything far away and not too crowded seems good / br / br /strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"May povbr /span/strong br /My whole body / I try to open my eyes, but the lights are too bright so they shut / Again, more careful this time, I open / I'm in a small, white / I lay on my back, dressed in some weird kind of paper thin dress, covered with a white /My breathing fastens as I try to remember how I got /A man walks in, wearing bright white clothes as / Suddenly I realize this must be a hospital, making him a /He starts talking to me, in / "Where am I?" I interrupt him, my voice / He tries to answer in bad /"You are in hospital. No move. Broken."br / He points at me, but I don't see more than just bandages as I look /"Do you mean bruised?" He / "But ribs broken. You in Saint Martin. Hospital."br / I try to remember what / "Why am I here?" My painful voice not more than a whisper./p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"br "You were in water." My memories return /spanI now remember being mad at Morwen, for no good /She was just teasing me a /I know I ran after her, off the / I look at the doctor, my eyes widened in /"How long have I been here?" "Six days,"br / He answers, looking down at his beeper before walking /"Me must go now." Leaving me alone / br / I try to get up, ignoring the pain in my chest (just some broken ribs, nothing I haven't had before) and start pulling off tubes from my arms and /Stumbling across the room, I reach the stack with my belongings and find my / It has been turned off by someone, so it still has full /My movements are clumsy while I dial the / Tiredness flows through me as I push the green / "Ward" joy overwhelms me now that I hear this familiar / "Grant, it's me. Saint Martin's hospital."br /I manage to get out. "May?"br / I can't get myself to /I just lay down, the phone pressed to my ears, longing for his voice to reassure /"May, we're coming for you. O god, Melinda."br / His voice breaks. "We.. we're coming!"br / br / br /I sit on my bed, fully dressed again, waiting for my team to /emspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"I'm not going to let my pain /span/emI tell myself firmly. It doesn't take them long to get here, so I guess they were still somewhere in /Which makes sense, since I am the pilot..br / My face brightens as Coulson walks in./p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"br He gives me a short hug. "Good to see you alive and kicking again."br /spanThe three younger agents give me a hug as / Simmons has tears in her /I didn't know I mean that much to her, or maybe she just cries a / Ward gives me a worried look before pulling me into a /"I taught I lost you." He whispers in my /Fitzsimmons gets me updated about the latest events while Coulson arranges my departure with the / "We haven't heard of her since." Fitz ends his story about / I'm sad she left. "It wasn't her fault."br / I struggle to keep the tears of remorse from running down my /I'm not such a weakling normally, but I guess almost dying makes you emotionally fragile for a / Morwen was a kind girl, she shouldn't have left the team like /The doctor finally lets me /Ward carefully lays his arm around me as I try to stand up, supporting /For once, I except the kind / He leads me towards the /The ride is silent. Everyone seems lost in their own / Coulson offers me a hand as I try to step out of the /I bite back my pain and /He sighs and walks away, followed by the younger / "You don't have to be tough all the time, you know."br / Ward says, offering me a hand. This time, I / He walks me to my room, holding me with an amount of care I hadn't expected from /"Goodnight May." He whispers, turning to walk /I grasp his shoulder to stop /I surprise us both by saying "No, stay.".br / But then I realize I mean /I don't want to spend this night /Ward looks me deep in the / "May..." He whispers as I pull him closer by his /I kiss him fierce. His reaction comes quick and / Grabbing me tight, he closes the door with his /Then he gently pushes me on the bed, giving me exactly what I / /p 


	4. Chapter 4

**Ward pov**

It has been two months after Mays accident and our... moment. Things have cooled down soon afterwards. I guess we both just needed it. We didn't tell Coulson. He would probably fire me and send May to Alaska. _And I wouldn't blame him if he did. _I think to myself. I wonder if Skye knows something, she keeps giving us funny looks. Like now, as May, Skye and I are in the living room. I'm just reading a book, sitting next to May, but Skye looks as if she sees much more happening. _Just don't pay attention to her. She's just acting like a child. _Skye suddenly jumps up from her hair, almost dropping her beloved laptop. "We have to go to Egypt." She says as she runs out of the room. I do as I just decided and don't pay attention to her strange action. But then Coulson comes barging in. "May, take us to Egypt." She stands up and walks away without questioning why. So I take that's my job. "Why are we heading towards Egypt?" "Skye thinks she found something. Or rather, someone." He leaves me, still clueless. Since I can't find Skye, I kill the following two hours reading my book again. However, I can't focus. _What did Coulson mean and why is he acting so mysterious?_

Finally the plane lands. Fitzsimmons clearly has no clue about what's going on either. I hide my nervosity, trusting Coulson knows what he's doing. The door opens, but instead of walking out, Coulson lets someone in. My eyes widen and I notice my heart beating faster as I see who's walking in. She's silent, her head held low, almost like she's shy and her bag slung over her small shoulders. I don't remember her to be this slender and fragile. "Morwen!" Simmons cries, pulling her into a hug before kissing both her cheeks. Fitz and Skye joining them for a small group hug. Morwen looks bewildered. "Welcome back, agent Romanov." May says joyful. "You have a lot of explaining to do." With that, Coulson motions for us to leave. "Ward, will you be so kind to help her with her bag?" He gives me a meaningful look before closing the door, leaving us alone. He knows I yelled at her, I told him the whole story. So I understand why he wants me to talk with her. That doesn't mean I'm looking forward to this conversation. I point at the bag. "Let me take it." The expected witty remark doesn't come. She just hands me the bag. "How did Skye know where you were?" I ask, while walking her to her room. Nobody dared to enter after her departure, so it has been empty all the time. "I texted her," _Well, didn't expect that._ "I said I was in Egypt and could use some company. I asked a Rising Tide buddy of mine for her number." I raise an eyebrow. "What, you thought Skye was the only one with connections?" I chuckle. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." _Not a very subtle change of subject, Ward.._ "I shouldn't have done that and I regret it very much. Shouldn't have called you a murderer." I start rambling. She stands still and looks at me. The water in her eyes surprises me. I slowly raise a hand, laying it on her cheek. Ignoring her little flinch, I lift my other hand to cup her face. "Please, don't cry." I beg, my heart breaking at the sight of the little warrior now looking so fragile. "I missed you." She smiles slightly at me, but I see that she's holding something back. "I'm sorry I risked Mays life. I'm so, so sorry I almost killed her." I shake my head. "That wasn't your fault." Regret overflows me. Her eyes are dry again, so I give her a peck on her cheek and walk away. Sure May wants to talk to her too.

**Morwen pov**

I wake up sweating, my heart beating fast. "It was just a dream." I whisper to myself, while reaching for the lamp on my nightstand. Making it send away the darkness and my thoughts about my _cell_. I know I won't be able to sleep again, so I put on some clothes and head towards the training room. That's practically just the space in front of the lab, where you can hang up a punching bag. Instead of the bag, I hang up a wooden board. I stand with my bad to Lola, Coulson's car, making sure I won't damage her. I take out my throwing knives, weighting each one in my hand carefully. I aim at the board, hitting it in the center each time. I notice there are two knives missing. One's stuck in Hassan's head, that I know. I left it there on purpose when I got the hell out of there. But I don't want to think about that, so I move on to the punching bag. _Hassan stands in front of me, giving me that creepy smile. _My right hand hits the bag with a satisfying smack. _His smile remains as he pulls out the knife. Enjoying every moment of it, he slowly makes a cut across my leg._ My left hand follows. I'm punching the bag harder and faster. _The tall man, standing in front of me. His smell, like rotting meat, sickening me._ I use my knee in-between my punches. _A hit, again. Followed by a soft crack this time. _Harder, faster, keep fighting the bag. _Hassan, throwing me back into my dark _cell_. Leaving me bleeding on the ground._ Suddenly a hand grasps me from behind. I scream and turn around to fight my attacker. But it's not Hassan or one of his man standing in front of me. It's Skye, looking at me in fear. "What are you doing here?" I ask as I try to cover up my freaked out reaction. "I..," She's clearly shocked that I almost attacked her. "Ward gives me some training every morning. It's seven o'clock you know.." I see Ward entering. I grab my knives and leave, avoiding his gaze. "Morwen," Ward calls me back. "Would you like to join us?" His voice make it clear that he won't accept a no. I have to obey him, since he's my superior. "Sure, but don't think I'll go easy on you." I tease him as I lay down my knives again. He first lets Skye practice with me. I learn her some new moves. She seems to enjoy it, happy that she won't have to push ups again like normally with Ward. After an hour she points at the clock. "I'm done." She disappears before Ward can call her back. Smart girl. "So, it's just you and me then." He smirks. I feel uneasy, a knot forming in my stomach. Nevertheless I take position in front of him. _Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know._ I tell myself as I put up my arms in a fighting stand. Just as we're about to start, Skye appears again. "New case. New Zealand. So you've got plenty of time for your fight." She sits down and looks up at us like she's a little schoolgirl. I shake my head, smiling at her enthusiasm. We focus again. I wait for him to throw the first punch. He makes a move but I block it with ease. Next one's harder. He goes full force on me. He tries to kick me. I grab his foot and twist it, forcing him to fall on the ground. He rolls and gets up, just in time to avoid my punch. We punch, turn, kick and twist for a while. I don't give him my fully best, but it's a hard and fair fight anyways. Soon, we're both panting. I wipe a string of hair from my face. He uses this moment to throw another punch at me. My hands are up, tucking my hair back in my braid. I can't block in time and he hits me hard in my chest.

**Ward pov**

My fist hits her chest and I feel her ribs move with the force. _It wasn't that hard, I can't have broken them._ I think in confusion. She falls down. I'm so startled that I'm not fast enough to catch her. She lands on the floor with a smack. I immediately kneel next to her. "Morwen?" Her eyes are open, but there's no recognition in them. Like the time my older brother hit my younger brother knock-out, eyes just staring without seeing anything. I gently shake her shoulder, trying to make her respond. All of the sudden, she start screaming and shaking heavily. "Skye, get help!" I order as I try to pin Morwen down to the ground. Coulson already comes in. "Hold her!" I try, but she starts to scratch me, wiggling underneath me to get out. Coulson puts a needle in her arm, which makes her panic even more. "Easy girl, it's just morphine." He whispers as he injects the fluid into her body. I feel her muscles relax under my palms as the tranquilizer kick in. I try to lift her moveless body up. She's so slender, it doesn't take much effort. I hear the others approaching as I take Morwen in my arms, bridal style. Fitzsimmons suck in a breath and Skye's eyes widen, looking at Morwen. As I look down at the girl in my arms, I almost drop her in shock. Her shirt is wrinkled where I've put my arms around her, leaving a part of her stomach shirtless. Her skin is covered with purple and blueish spots. The bruises are spread across the whole part and going further to where the clothes cover her skin. The small lines, some red some white, give her body an even more horrifying look. "Put her on the table." Coulson points at the lab. His face, always a hard mask, shows concern. I walk into the lab and lay her down very carefully. Afraid to make another bruise on het already tormented body. May seems to be the only one still able to think clear. "Boys, out. Skye, Simmons, cut off her clothes. There might be still fresh wounds, we need to take care of them." I guess that's why she's the cavalry. Thinking like a pro when everyone is confused. I take Morwens hand as Coulson and Fitz leave. "I'm not leaving her," I declare, daring May to try and stop me. "I'm still her supervisor." "Just let him be." Skye supports me. I discreetly turn around as Simmons starts cutting the clothes loose. With every cut, revealing more of the girl's body, I hear Simmons letting out a little cry. After a few minutes, she abruptly walks out, leaving the job to Skye. I don't know how long I stand here, in the cold, clean lab, holding the unconscious girls hand. It could be hours. Simmons has returned, with puffy red eyes from crying. Eventually she announces that all the wounds are taken care of and that Morwen will be fine. "The wounds are mostly superficial, so they'll heal in time. She'll wake up soon now." With that, she leaves. Skye leans over to give Morwen a kiss on her cheek and walks away with May. I turn around to look at the girl on the table, lying perfectly still. I stare at her peaceful face and wait for her to wake up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Morwen pov**

I wake up shivering from the cold. It takes me a second to realize where I am. My arms and legs feel heavy as I look around and try to orientate. I'm in the lab. _Well, that doens't help much. How did I get here? I try to push myself up into a sitting position. _Ward reaches out for me to help. I hadn't noticed him next to my. My mind is still drowsy. "Thanks." I mumble, resting dizzy against his chest. Then I look down to see that I'm only wearing my bra and panties. _That's happening way too often Morwen_. I scowl to myself. "Please tell me we didn't have sex and I passed out." He raises an eyebrow and gives me a weird look. "You're on a lab table." Is hi statement. "Well, don't know how kinky you are.." He laughs at that but turns serious as he explains the situation. "You passed out. We noticed your.. condition. So that's why you're on the table, like... that." He blushes and waves his hand towards me. His awkwardness makes me smile. Never taught I would make the big special agent Ward blush. He startles me by taking off his shirt. "What the.." "Here, put it on." He hands me it. I put it on, letting it whirl around my body. It's too big, more like a dress to me. "Thank you." Now it's my time to blush, trying not to look at his muscled naked chest. "You should talk to Coulson." I nod. With a sigh, I push myself off the table and walk out. Secretly glad with this escape from the weird, half naked situation with Ward. Ignoring the pain in my chest, I change in my room and go to see Coulson. I knoch at the door of his office. There's a bruise on my wrist that I don't remember seeing before. "Come in." I hear his muffled voice from the other side, so I walk in. May and Coulson are standing in front of the desk, their arms crossed in from of their chests. "You're awake, good. Now start talking." Coulson demands. Not quite sure how to begin I say "Well, after I killed May," I glance at her. "Sorry for that," She motions for me to continue. "I just ran off. Natasha thought me to rely on diamonds when being traced. So that's why you couldn't find me. I wandered around for a week. Wen to Spain, Egypt, kept going south. I thought about going to Tahiti. I heard it's a magical place." Coulson says the last words with me, like he always does when Tahiti is mentioned. I grin and continue, forcing the words out of my mouth. "I ended up in Somalia." Horrible memories flash back, but I force them to go away. "Some people recognized me from the time I was there with Natasha." My troath is dry. "Someone named Hassan, with some friends, captured me." I refuse to look at Coulson or May, instead focussing on my black converses. "They're linked to the centipede project. So they kept me locked up, wanting me to give them information about S.H.I.E.L.D. and how to stop them and help the project. Of course I didn't give them anything. The Clearvoyend didn't send anyone so I don't think they expected much of me." A cold shiver runs up my back. I'm not planning on telling the agents that I know exactly what they wanted to hear from me. That I know what stopped them from telling the Clearvoyend about me and why they didn't kill me. That will be mine to know, for now. "Hassan and his men tortured me anyways." I look up to see May clenching her fists. Coulson looks at me with an almost fatherly concern. "But hey, I'm not that badly damaged and I got out." I fake a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't ask me how. I made it. Hassan sure won't be a problem anymore." They both nod in understanding, getting the hint. It's silent for a while. The room, normally so light and open, seems to have darkened. The soberness now more frigid. "I don't think the Clearvoyend has any more interest in me, so everythings is OK again. May I go now?" I'm getting really uncomfortable here. Coulson nods. I gladly step into the light of the hallway again. Altought the morphine has held me unconsious for some hours, I feel tired. I pull my PJ's out from my bag and sleep the remaining hours until the landing.

Skye softly knocks on my door. "We're landing in half an hour." She sofly says. I groan and slowly get up, still tired. I get dressed in my black and gold outfit again and go to the lab. Fitsimmons falls silent as I walk in. "What, I've got something between my teeth?" I joke. Their pity isn't something I want now. It happened and now it's over. Time to move on. "How are you feeling?" Fitz asks. "Not that I'm implying that you lok like you're not feeling good" "because you look fine ofcourse" "but just wondering if" "I'm fine." I cut in before they make me confused again. That happens occasionally when they finish eachothers sentences. "Oh, we've got you something." Jemma's face lits up as she takes a box from underneeth the table. She hands it to me. It contains a night night gun. It's black, with some golden details. "It matches your outfit." "Thank you," I hug them both. "It's wonderful." I put it on my belt next to my normal gun. "Now of you go and be safe." Jemma says, waving to the other agents. I walk out of the lab to stand beside Coulson, ready for the mission. "Nice gun, I hope it's not too heavy. An ounce too much could be dangerous." I laugh at the smooth reminder of Ward complaining the weight was an ounce off when I first came here. We soon land and get into the SUV's. This time, I'm in the vehicle with Skye and Coulson.

The sight is beautiful. All around us are large green mountains with white peaks_._ Skye breaks the peaceful silence. "There has been another explosion. Whe should hurry before we're too late." I grin. "A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." I quote Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. They don't seem to understand my joke. I shake my head. "Just step on the gass." We arrive at an open space. There are various craters, each approximately the same size. In the middle of the area stand twe man and a women. They're gowing softly. "Centipede." Coulson growls soft. The people notice us as we get out of the car. "Ward, Morwen, take one out with the Night night gun. May, cover their backs. Skye, you're with me." He devides us. Ward and I start walking towards the two men. I take out my gun, thanking Fitzsimmons in silence for giving me one. We slowly approach, May on our left. As soon as they're within reach, May starts shouting "S.H.I.E.L.D.! Stop moving!" She gets their attention. Ward and I each take one man. I shoot at the one on the right. He's short and balding, making the glow coming from him more noticable. Ward shoots the other, taller and more chubby, man at the same time. We both hit them in the chest twice. Once to stop them from exploding, once to make them pass out. A terrified scream comes from behind us. We turn around to see the women, now glowing much more, holding Skye. An arm wrapped around her troath, using her as a shield against Coulson. He looks troubled, not wanting to take the shot and risk Skye's life. May steps forward, an arrogant look in het eyes. She aims at the womens head, just an inch next to Skyes. "No!" I takes the shot. Both women fall down. The glowing disappears, making it clear the women is dead. Skye gasps for air, looking at May terrified. "You could've hit me!" "I didn't." Is her simple response. I start clapping slowly. "And that, ladies and gentleman, is what makes the cavalerie so loved." Sarcasm dripping from my voice. This seems to have hit her. She briskly turns around and marches back to the plane. I run after her. "May, I didn't mean to.." "Yes you did. It doesn't matter," She looks me in the eyes. I'm taken aback by the hurt in her eyes. "It's true, I know that." She walks away before I can say anything. Coulson passes me, dragging the unconcious men to the cage. It's a long flight to the sandpit, where we have to deliver them. I spend the rest of the day playing games with Skye and Fitzsimmons. It's still early in the evening when I quit the game of scrabble we're playing. "I'm tired. Besides, Jemma uses her British against us. That's not fair." I pretent to pout, which make them laugh. With a hug I wish them goodnight and go to my room.

**Ward pov**

It has been a long day. May saved us, especially Skye, with her brilliant move. Although a hit with the night night gun would have been better. My thoughts get interruptedby a muffled scream. I turn around to see where it comes from. Another scream pierces the silence in the halway. It comes from Morwens bedroom. I open the door and see the girl laying in her bed. She's screaming again, her hair a tangled mess around her head. She's frantically kicking around. "Morwen!" I whisper, touching her cheek which is wet from tears. Her snaps up, revealing her blue, watered eyes. She stops moving and screaming. Instead she whispers with a trembling voice: "I dont want to go back. No, no. Don't let me go back. No!" I shake her awake before she can start screaming again. She looks up at me, tears running down her face. "Please, don't make me go back." She begs, clenching my shirt in her fists. "Shh, I won't let you go back. You're safe." I hush to calm her down. I sit next to her on the bed and take her hands in mine. She looks so breakable. "S.. Sorry. I hope I didn't wake you up." She stutters, shivering from the cold. I can't find her blanket, she probably kicked it away in her sleep, so I put a warm arm around her. "No, it's okay. It's not late, I was just heading for my bedroom. Don't worry about me." "Don't go." She begs, holding on tight to my hand. "I'm not going anywhere and neighter are you." I hush her. To my own surprise I put one arm underneath her and pull her onto my lap. She's so light, it doesn't take me any effort. She sits on my lap sideways, leaning her head at my chest. I wrap my arms around her tight. "Don't you worry," I whisper in her ear. "You're save, my little warrior." We sit in silence. I eventually hear her breathing slow down as she falls asleep again. Peacefully this time. It doesn't take me long to do the same. I close my eyes and drift away. I fall asleep still holding her, protecting her fragile body with mine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Morwen pov**

The sun shines bright trough the little window as I wake up. I wipe the sleep from my eyes and yawn. My cheeks turn red by the thought of Ward in my room last night. _Did I really cry? He sure thinks I'm weak now. _I don't want to get up, but stumble out of my bed anyway. We need to deliver the centipede project in the sandbox today. Another case is probably waiting already. I put on a pair of jeans and the first shirt I can find and put my hair in a messy bun. My stomach growls so I walk towards the kitchen. Skye stares at me as I walk in. Probably because I look terrible, but that doesn't matter now. "Food." I moan. She hands me a sandwich and continues staring. I try to ignore it but I get annoyed halfway through my breakfast. "What?" She shrugs. "Nice shirt." She gives me a wink and leaves. Wondering what's wrong with my shirt, I look at it. It's dark grey and much too big. I lay my head on the table in defeat. It's Ward's. "Damn it." I mumble to myself. Great start of the day... not. With a sight I head back to change into one of my own shirts. May passes me and her face lits up as she sees me. _What's she so happy about? _Just as I'm dressed again, a knock sounds on my door. Skye walks in and plumps down on my bed. "Hey, could we talk?" I sit down next to her, looking into her worried eyes. "What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" She shakes her head. "It's not about me." She says slowly, looking for the right words to say. "I just don't want you to get hurt." My confusion must have shown on my face because she raises a finger. "Just let me talk. Okay? And don't get mad." I nod. "I saw Ward entering your room last night and you were wearing his shirt at breakfast." I open my mouth but the points her finger at me. I close it again, determined to listen to the whole story before responding. "I don't mind if the two of you are in a relationship. I really don't. You are cute together. But.. something happened when you were gone." I frown in confusion. _What could've happened that set her off so much? _I swear, if Coulson has hurt her in any way... "When you were in Somalia and May had just returned.." She figits her fingers, clearly struggling before blurting out: "Ward and May had sex." I open my mouth, close it, then open it again. I don't know what to say. "Well.." I start, realizing I probably look like an idiot. "That came unexpected." She gives me a hug. "Sorry, I just thought you had to know." I shake my head. I don't want her to feel guilty. "No worries. He's just my supervisor. Nothing happened. I just had some bad dreams and he made sure I got some sleep. He don't wants me to mess up again." I'm rambling. "Anyways, we're not together. He can sleep with whoever he wants. Although May wouldn't have been my first choice, if I were him." I shiver as an image of May and Ward together pops up in my mind. "Okay, ew. Thank you for putting that gross image in my head." She laughs. "Yes, not something you want to think about.. Hey, do you want to play with the holotable?" She takes my hand and drags me toward the command centre. Skye really is a wonderful person. She has me laughing again in no time, making me forget about my bad dreams and Ward. We let the others handle the drop-off as we play guitar hero with holo guitar and tic tac toe. Our fun gets interrupted by Coulson, announcing a new case.

We gather in the command center. One of the screens on the walls shows a scene more fitted for a horror movie. Several bodies are torn apart and hanged in trees. "What kind of monster is capable of this?" Fitz whispers in horror. "That's for us to find out. We're heading for Lanzarote straight away." "Skye, could you give us some satellite images of the island?" May asks. Skye types for a few seconds and a map of the island pops up. "The bodies are found there, there and there." A red dot appears on each location. "It seems like he's going east." Ward states, pointing at the map. "What's there?" A silence follows as Skye starts typing again. "Let's see. A small village, an inactive volcano and a power plant." Fitz whines_._ "Why power plants? Why can't it be cute little bakeries?" "Oh, men up." Skye bumps his shoulder. "It's not like you're going in anyways," May agrees. "Coulson and Ward will take the south wing, Morwen and I north." With this, the meeting ends. I wait until the older agents have left before I start singing creepily (and a bit childishly): "Are you, are you coming to the tree. Where they strung up a man they say murdered three. Strange things did happen here and stranger would it seem if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree." He shivers, looking feared. His eyes widen even more as Skye joins me. _Finally someone with a good taste of books_. "Are you, are you coming to the tree. Where the dead man called out for his love to flee. Strange things did happen here and stranger would it seem if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree." He backs away, presses himself against the wall. We sing together and I can't help but notice that our voices sounds pretty good. "Are you, are you coming to the tree. Where I told you to run so we would both be free. Strange things did happen here and stranger would it seem if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree." His fear grows to the max as we sing the last part of the song, creeping closer to him. He looks terrified, like we're actually possessed instead of singing a song from the Hunger Games "Are you, are you coming to the tree. Wear a necklace of rope side by side with me. Strange things did happen here and stranger would it seem if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree." Skye and I start laughing and high-five. "Not funny!" Fitz exclaims. "You should've seen your face." Skye giggles. This makes Fitz laugh as well. "Never do that again!" We walk away laughing.

The plane lands close to the power plant. We waste no time. The mutant will be here already for sure. I team up with May and we creep towards the north entrance. I'm glad to work with May. It's weird considering I almost had her killed (even though it was accidentally) but I see her as a good friend. I get the feeling she thinks the same about me. So I cover her back as she opens the door and walks into the dark building. Only to get thrown out. I back away. It's too dark to see what threw her out with so much force. A man steps out of the room into the sunlight. He's huge, both long and broad. He tries to hit me but I duck and make a countermove. May joins me but he's strong. We're forced to back away a few more steps. His hands get a hold on me. He lifts me up and throws me. I'm weightless for a second but then I land on the ground. The hit forces the air out of my lungs and I gasp for breath. Ward and Coulson join May in the fight as I take a moment to recover. We're close to the plane now. The man seems to have noticed that too. He takes a jump and lands on one of the wings. With a terrible sound, he rips the metal apart. _O shit, now May is really pissed off. Nobody messes with her dear plane._ The man starts throwing pieces of metal at us. I'm just in time to avoid getting my head chopped off by one. It lands right next to me in the sand. I can see the reflection of Ward's shocked face in the dusty metal. We attack again, dodging the flying metal. We can easily join him on the wing of the plane, using the dents to get ourselves upwards. Ward and Coulson fight him from one side, May and I take positions on the other. As soon as he has his back to me, I jump. I clamps myself tight with my legs as I grab his head in my hands. I see Mays shadow coming over me from behind. I know what she wants. I lower my hands to his chin and make myself as small as possible. May comes flying over my head. Her hands join mine, placed on both sides of his head. I see the muscles in her fingers pierce his skin as she firms her grip. With perfect timing, we use our hands to turn his head. His neck snaps with a loud crack. I jump off his back as May lands in front of him. His body collapses, his neck in an unhealthy angle. Death. I sigh in relieve. Coulson opens his mouth to give orders for the clean-up, but I stop him. "I am so taking a shower first." I run into the plane quickly, not giving him the chance to call me back.

I walk into the living room. The others have taken a shower too, I see. "Why are we still on the ground?" I ask May. "Big guy ripped it apart, remember?" _Yep, she's mad about that. _"I guess that's indeed a valid reason." Now that the plane is broken, we're stuck on this island. "We will stay in a hotel until the plane is fixed," Coulson declares. "That will most likely take a day or two." Skye claps her hands with joy. "Yay, free time!" We soon decide to go for a swim. My body is still a bit bruised, but the wounds have closed so I don't mind swimming. The five of us quickly change in the plane and run for the sea. Coulson and May are left behind with the task of finding a hotel. "Last one in pays for the drinks tonight!" Skye shouts as we're almost at the shore. We all take off in a sprint. Fitz pushes me aside, making me trip and fall. But I don't mind, since it's a sign that they won't treat me differently because of my bruises. I throw my hands up, sitting in the sand, as they splash into the water, "Fine, I'll pay." "We're going out tonight?" Ward asks, raising an eyebrow. _That look really suits him. _"Yes, the five of us are going to a beach party tonight." Skye decides, looking at Fitzsimmons at the five. Making clear that she expects them to come too. "Sure, we will join you," Jemma agrees, floating on her back. "Even if it's just to keep an eye on you." "because Ward is such a wild one." I joke. They chuckle, even Ward manages a smile. I bit my lip and go underwater to mask my shyness. I look at him from under the surface. He looks amazing, his hair messy from the water. _He's just your supervisor, stop acting so weird. _Still, I look at the muscles covering his abdomen. Strong and healthy, unlike mine, that are still recovering. Someone grabs me from behind. I let out some air bubbles of surprise as I turn around to see a grinning Jemma. I follow her back to the surface, where I immediately get water splashed in my face by Skye. I laugh and wipe my wet hair from my face. One string falls back. A hand comes up from next to me and tucks it behind my ear. I back away as a reflex, kicking with my legs to move. I hit the person next to me, which I now see is Ward. He chuckles at my over-sensitive reaction, so I awkwardly smile back.

We stay on the beach until dinner time. "See you in the lobby in half an hour?" Fitz asks after dinner. We nod and go to our rooms. Ward and Fitz share one, May and Coulson each have their own and I share one with the other girls. We help each other with our make-up, choosing outfits and admire each other as we're done. Jemma has her hair in a messy bun and wears a sweet pink shirt and short pants. Skye's hair hangs in lose, shiny curls on her back. She is wearing a cute white dress. I choose to wear my dark red tank top and black short pants and black boots with studs. My hair is in a French braid over my shoulder. Skye applies eyeliner, giving me a more feminine look. Next to them, with their cute clothing, I look like a rebel.

We head towards the lobby where we meet the boys. They're both dressed in a shirt and jeans. Ward is of course wearing something darker and less cute than Fitz. He looks at me approvingly, but I feel uncomfortable under his stare. We walk out smiling. Skye was right, we all need a night out. Away from this stressful job. No place to spend the night better than at a beach club. I've made sure to have enough money with me for quite a party. Skye seems determined to make this night amazing. I'm sure it will be better than my last one, before I joined this team. A party with my coworkers and friends this time, instead of a killer. This will certainly be fun


	7. Chapter 7

**Morwen pov**

It's already crowded as we enter the club, but we manage to find a table near the dance floor. I order five tequilas and we chatter while sipping from the alcohol. "What about some competition?" Fitz says, already a bit tipsy. _Well, he can't handle alcohol, like, at all.._ "Sure." Ward agrees. I give him a playful push with my elbow_._. "I didn't know you were such a party animal?" He rolls his eyes. "First one to drink five shots doesn't have to do paperwork next case." We all take the bet. I don't think it's a good idea for Fitz to participate but I order 25 shots anyways. It's not like we have time to party a lot. Besides, there's no way he'll make it past his second shot. The little classes of alcohol are placed on the table. Five for each. Simmons starts counting. We all hold our hand close to the first glass. "One.. Two.. Three, go!" I quickly drink the first one. The bitter fluid burns in my throat as I take the second and third glass and drink them. Before I can reach my fourth, Ward shouts "Done!" I look at him amazed. "Seems like you're doing the paperwork." He teases Fitz, who was still at his first shot. A song of Avicii starts playing, so I grab Skye and Ward and pull them towards the dance floor. "Morwen, no," Skye laughs. "I'd better stay with Fitzsimmons." I pout, but shrug and take as many shot glasses as I can carry instead. Ward willingly joins me in the crowd. We drink another shot. I giggle. "What's so funny?" "We've not even been here for an hour and I'm a bit tipsy already." He laughs and hold me at my hips. "Don't worry, I got you when you'll fall." I roll my eyes at him. Clearly he's more drunk than I am. We start dancing to the beat. Our bodies touch occasionally, making me smile a little each time. I forget about time and space as we dance together, drinking the last shots. His hands never leave my hips, keeping me close to him.

The music slows down. We take a breath as we move slower now. Our chest brush against each others as we dance. He pulls me closer, one hand on my back to hold me tight. I look up at him and smile. He bows his head and kisses me, not even trying to do it tenderly. He softly bites my lip as he pulls back. His eyes glimmer with joy. We dance closer now, driven by the music and the alcohol. He smirks and presses his lips at the front of my neck. I feel his hot breath against my skin, making me shiver. Then a sting follows. I step back, breaking our closeness in my surprise. He smirks even wider but I end his arrogance with my hand. It hits him hard in the face, a full force bitchslap. I march back to the table, informing the others briskly before heading towards the exit. I'm not in the mood to wait for a response but walk back to the hotel immediately. From the corner of my eyes I see Fitz walking over to a shocked-looking Ward, taking him back to the hotel too. I finally reach my room and throw myself on one of the beds. I close my eyes, ignoring the spinning of everything around me, and hope to sleep without any nightmares. The alcohol in my system luckily agrees. I drift off into a deep sleep even before the other girls have entered the room.

I don't have a hangover the next morning. I whistle out of happiness as I walk towards the hotel's dining room. The rest of the team, except Fitz, is already there. The p_oor kid probably has the worst hangover ever. _ I get myself some waffles and join the others. The conversation falls silent. "Well, you sure have a way of making remarkable entrees at breakfast." Skye says, taking a bite of her donut. I look down, pretty sure I'm wearing my own clothes this time. I am indeed. "What's wrong?" May laughs, almost choking in her coffee. Then Jemma sees it too and a blush creeps up her face. "Guys, what's wrong?" I demand an answer. "You've got a hicky in your neck." May points at a spot in the middle of my neck, slightly to the side. "A pretty big one" Coulson adds. _Isn't he supposed to be professional or something?_ I growl and cover it with my hand. That makes them laugh even more. "Girl gone wild last night?" Skye teases. All this time Ward was quite. He doesn't look at me, but continues eating like this conversation isn't even taking place. "It's nothing really" I try to convince them. Jemma luckily helps me "We slept in the same room. So she didn't go that wild." I'm really not comfortable with the team discussing my sex life. "It was just some jackass that thought it would be funny to give me that mark. It won't happen again." At this, Ward looks up. He gives me an apologizing look, but I ignore it. "How did he get to do it without your approval? You can handle a muscled mutant but not some guy from a club?" Skye isn't letting me go that easy. "I didn't exactly know what he was doing until it was too late okay." I shove my plate away and stand up. "I'm going for a walk, since we're still stuck on this damned island." I end this awkward conversation. I don't have an idea of where to go so I just start in a random direction. It leads me up the a hill, out of the city and away from the beach. After half an hour I'm in the middle of nowhere. I climb over volcanic stones, not following any path. I hear someone approaching and heighten my speed. The person behind me starts a little jog to keep up with me. "What do you want?" I shout as I turn around. Ward is several feet behind me. He looks sad and holds his hand up for forgiveness. "I'm sorry I did that to you. I was drunk and I regretted it as soon as it had happened. Please don't be mad" I start walking again. He joins me in silence. After a while he starts speaking again. "Are you mad?" I think about that a while. _Am I mad? He did give me a hicky which led to embarrassment. However he didn't mean to do any harm and it will disappear eventually. _"no, I'm not mad. But never, ever, do that again!" I warn him. He sighs in relieve. "Thank you for not telling them it was me." I shrug. "That wouldn't have been better for both of us." "I owe you." "Big time" We've reached a tree with some stones underneath it. I sit down, so does he. "I think I know how you can repay your dept." He does his beloved eyebrow raise. "Tell me" "I want to know the story behind agent Ward" That takes him by surprise. 'What do you want to know?" 'What drives you? What made you do this job? What do you enjoy about it so much? I want to know everything." It's silent for a while as he thinks of his answers. "My older brother used to hit me and my little brother. One day I decided I wanted to stand up against those people, to protect the weaker men. So I did. I joined shield to protect everyone, not just one person or only the United States, the whole world." I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not that. I give him a hug. "Don't regret the past. It made you a wonderful person." I feel his head nod against my shoulder. I pull back and stare of in the distance. I'd never thought that such a hurt person would be hidden behind the tough agent he is. It makes me respect and care for him even more. I grab his hand, holding it in reassurance. "You're the best person I've ever met. You're funny, kind and caring.." "so this is what I get when I piss you off, compliments?" He jokes. "Then maybe you should get some more." He lifts me up and I scream in surprise. 'Ward, put me back! Don't you dare give me another one. This was embarrassing enough. Put me down!" He laughs and lets my feet to the ground again. I look up in his eyes. One arm is still wrapped around my shoulders. He rests his hand low on my back. I tiptoe to reach his face. He leans in and softly presses his lips on mine. I feel his breath warm my face and smile. What began as a little kiss, quickly deepens. I run out of breath way to soon and I'm forced to pull back. He looks me deep in the eyes. 'I'm afraid I might have fallen for you.' He smiles. Hearing that sentence makes my heart jump. I passionately kiss him again. I can't get myself to say I love him too. He slept with May, I won't forget anytime soon. Instead I kiss him again. He presses me even closer to him. I wrap my arms around his neck. 'My little warrior,' He whispers lovingly. I lean my head against his chest, hugging him tight. He returns it but breaks the moment by suggesting we head back again. We've been gone for quite a time, so the others might be waiting for us. I agree to head back, holding his hand on our way towards the beach again.

**Skye pov**

Ward and Morwen join us at the beach. They act casual, but something happened. I can see it in the twinkle of Morwens eyes. _She's so going to tell me exactly what happened.._ "The plane is almost ready." I tell them. May has been happy all morning. "We should be able to go on board again," She tells them. "So pack your bags." Jemma and Morwen help me clean up our room and pack our bags. I've lost half of my stuff, as usual, so it takes us a while. "How can you lose everything in just two days?" "I lived in a van, don't blame me for having to get used to big rooms." I joke, making Jemma laugh before she walks in the bathroom to clean it up. I plump on my bed and pull my knees up to my chest. "Morwen?" She looks up. "What happened?" Her eyes widen a bit. "What do you mean?" "With you and Ward. I know something happened," She frowns. "Ward hasn't come in to complain about how slow we are, yet. So yes, clearly something has happened." She chuckles and joins me on the bed. Her eyes twinkle again. "We talked." I roll my eyes. "Sure." "And he said he loved me." My jaw drops, I don't even try to hide my surprise. "You.. He.. You're a couple?" She blushes. "No, not official of course. Ward thinks Coulson wouldn't approve." "He didn't tell Coulson about May either." She bites her lip and looks down. "I know." "O, Morwen, I'm sorry. I didn't want to compare you to May." "It's okay. I've thought about that too." I hug her and quickly change the subject as Jemma walks in. "I thought I would never find that blouse again. Thanks!" I tell Morwen as I let go. She smiles and whispers a thank you. It takes us another hour to get ready. By then, May seems annoyed again. She takes off to control the plane again. I stay with Fitzsimmons in the lab, helping them with some improvements on the night night gun. I see Morwen throwing her knives. She seems happy, hitting the bulls-eyes every time. May joins her after a while and I leave the lab to watch them. They've started a combat training, this one's even more impressive than with Ward. Their speed and accuracy is amazing. The Cavalryand Morwen. _Does she have a nickname?_ I think about funny and badass nicknames for the girl as I watch them. They're equally skilled, so it's a fair fight. It get ended by Coulson, announcing a new case. I get up my feet again and follow the rest of the team to the command centre.

**Ward pov**

Coulson announces a case. He makes wide gestures with his arms while he explains about it. I'm not paying full attention, my thoughts wander to Morwen. I think about our lovely moment, our shared kisses. A knot forms in my stomach as I remember saying I have fallen for her. She didn't say she loved me back. _Because you slept with May, dumbass_. I think to myself. How could I ever be so stupid? I try to block the negative thoughts and focus on Coulson's story. Apparently a frost giant once came to earth, leaving behind a pregnant women. Her kid has been on our watch for about thirty years. Coulson explains Hill wanted us to check on him, since they haven't heard of him for a few days. We're heading for Russia, where he's last seen. May leaves to change our flight plan.

It didn't take us long to arrive, since we were already flying above Denmark. We land near a small town and ride to it. "Skye, you're with Ward and I. Fitzsimmons, Morwen, you're with May," Coulson declares. "We'll go to his apartment, you search the town." We all nod and form teams. I follow Coulson to the large building. My hand lingers on my gun . "Second floor, room 301." Skye says, looking up from her cell phone. We walk the two stairs cautious . I draw my gun as we're reaching apartment 301. I hold it in front of me and kick the door open, going in first. It's dark, so I switch my flashlight on. I shine it around the apartment, making the beam shine on the furniture and closed curtains_, _ before whispering "Clear." Then I catch a glimpse of something in the corner of the room. "Hold on." I walk towards the creature, shining my light on its chest not to blind him. "Thomson Grace?" He looks up. Creepy blue eyes stare at me from a blueish face. He looks like a normal man who has been stuck in a freezer. I let Skye kneel down next to him, whispering soothing words. Thomson seems to relax under her present, but I keep my gun aimed at him. She talks him into opening the curtains and sitting down on the couch. "What happened?" She asks, making a vague gesture around, meaning him sitting there terrified. "I lost control." He trembles. "Control of what?" "Myself." Coulson frowns and steps in. "Do you mean you used your abilities?" He nods. "Sir, I would like you to come to Headquarters with me." Again a nod. He has been in the system his whole life, he knows the drill. Coulson takes him by his shoulder and leads him out of the room. I place a soothing hand on Skye's arm, who looks troubled. "Does he have to be taken in? He looks so innocent." "It's safer. Besides, he agreed to go with us himself." She shrugs and follows the two man without responding. I call May to tell her we've found him. We arrive at the plane at the same time as the other team. As soon as we've taken off into the air again, I search for Morwen. Fortunately I bump into her in the living room. "Hey, do you have a moment?" "Sure, I'm trying to avoid another match of Battleship with Skye." She winks. We sit down on the couch and I put my arms around her shoulder, making her lean into me. "Something you wanted to talk about?" I lean back and relax. "Not really," I see her smile a little. "I just wanted to be with you before it's my turn to watch over the mutant." "His name is Thomson." She protests, making me roll my eyes. We sit together in silence, enjoying our own thoughts. My left side warms up where she's leaning. I bow my head and press my lips on her hear. _I love you, little warrior_. I think, before moving to stand up. "Got to go, mutant, excuse me Thomson, is waiting." I correct myself as I see her glare. She stick out her tongue, making me laugh as I walk away. I spend the whole afternoon in boredom, as watching Thomson means looking at the screen in the command center as he sits in the corner of the Cage. Morwen doesn't join me until dinner time. She brings me a sandwich in silence. I smile gratefully at her, but she doesn't stay. I can't blame her, watching someone sit isn't something I would choose to do. Finally May comes to take my place. I quickly thank her before walking off to Morwen's room. "Knock knock," I whisper trough the door, reminding the first time I barged into her room. "May I come in?" I don't get any response, so I just walk in. Morwen's eyes flutter open as I sit on her bed. "Did I wake you? I'm sorry." I stroke her cheak, feeling her warm breath against my skin. She reaches her hands out to me. "No, I'm awake." She mumbles, but I see the sleep in her eyes. I lean in, letting her hands pull me close. She moves her body a bit to make space for mine. She looks so innocent when she's sleepy. I lay down next to her on the blankets , letting them form a small barrier between our bodies. Every time we touch, I feel her unconscious resistance, so I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable with lying straight next to her. "Morwen?" She mumbles a vague yes. "Do you know what happened when you we're gone?" She slightly nods, already almost asleep. "You had sex with May while I was captured." I gasp for breath as hers slows, indicating she's sleeping again. My heart breaks as I see a single tear form in the corner of her eye. _She was being tortured by centipede and all I thought off was May. I don't even love that women. My love lies with the girl here in my arms._ It's still weird to hear myself think like that. I've loved her from the moment she first fell asleep next to me. "My little warrior_"._ I kiss the corner of her eyes and taste the salty water of her tear. "Please don't cry," Her hands on my back clench and she pulls herself closer to me. I wrap my arms around her sleeping body. She curls up in a bal against my body. "I love you," I whisper in her hear, before planting a kiss on it. "Please don't blame me for the mistakes I've made." The heath of her body comforts me. Slowly I drift off into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Morwen pov**

The sunlight wakes me up. I open my eyes slowly, not wanting to get up yet. Something heavy holds me down on one side. I raise my head to see Ward, still asleep. Somewhere during the night he has rolled over, crushing half my body underneath him. My legs are entangled with his, our bodies close together. I blush and wiggle myself out of his grip. He frowns and mumbles something in his sleep. I kiss his forehead, causing him to smile. This makes me chuckle as I get up and get dressed. I decide to go with some simple jeans and a plain black shirt and my black sneakers. I leave the room soundlessly, not wanting to wake him up. May had the last watch over Thomson, so he probably hasn't had any breakfast yet. I make some sandwiches for us and walk towards the Cage. I type in the password and enter the room. "Hi Thomson," I great the man sitting in the center of the room. "Hungry?" He nods, so I give him the sandwich before turning to the camera to wave at May. He's grinning as I look back and take a seat opposite to him. "You don't seem to mind to irritate your colleges." He states. I take a bite from my sandwich and shrug. "Nah, just May." This makes him laugh. We chatter along while eating peacefully. "We'll be arriving soon," I say as I finish my breakfast. He doesn't look too happy about that, so I try to cheer him up. "If it helps, you won't be the only one that they'll be testing. The whole team has to do the annual tests." I roll my eyes. "They want to know if we've mastered any new skills or grown a third arm or something like that." He grins. "Then I guess I'll see you in the lab." I nod. Just before exiting I turn around. "Besides, you weren't one of Loki's servants. That is enough for the examiners to like you immediately." His eyes widen in recognition but I leave before he can respond. Ward is waiting for me outside the Cage. He gives me a soft, comforting hug. "Don't worry, it's your first year. They won't be too harsh on you. You'll do great." He says in my ear. I fake a smile and punch him in the arm. "You worry about yourself, muscleman."

We're in a large, empty room. "Back to back?" May suggests. Ward and I nod and we form a triangle. "So.. Anyone knows what we've got to do now?" I ask, not knowing what to expect. The instructor only told us to wear gym clothes. Suddenly doors open and agents come barging in. They surround us, looking determined to get us down. I join hands with Ward and May for a brief moment. Then the battle starts. Agents start running towards us, throwing punches and kicks at us. I fight them off, keeping my back to my friends as good as possible. I hear them do the same behind me. It's a hard and unfair fight. We're outnumbered, meaning we each have to fight at least four agents at the time. They fight like agents in training, but they're with so many! I barely manage to escape a kick and need to duck before a fists hits my face. Another agent comes leaping towards me, but I let myself fall to the ground and use my feet to make him fly to the other side of the room. After what seems like forever, they back off. A man in a lab coat comes walking in. "Well, that was interesting," He says, ushering us out of the room. "You three sure have magnificent fighting techniques." We're joined by the other part of the team in a new room. This one has several glass windows, revealing a room behind each. "Welcome to the fear room." The man announces. He tabs another man, working on a computer, on the shoulder. He turns around in his chair and smiles at us. "Don't give me that looks. It's not like we will throw spiders at you or something." He jokes, but it fails as none of us laughs. He becomes serious again and starts explaining. "We'll use holograms to stimulate your fears, to see how you react to them. This," He holds up a strange looking device. "Will discover your fears and put them into the holosystem. We won't be able to tell what your fears are beforehand. So in case your fear is like a giant fire-breathing dragon, kill it before the holo takes his full form." He winks but again no-one laughs. "Well, okay. Anyways there will be three fear that you have to face. You have to beat them. For example, squish a holospider with your feet. One," He holds up one finger. "Is a rather irrational fear. Second," Another finger. "Is a fear from deep down, your worst fear. Third is a fear compared with passion," He ends his explanation and makes a gesture to the rooms. "Time to shine." I roll my eyes and walk towards one room. I see the other members do the same. In front of each window are three people in lab coats stationed. Their eyes glimmer with curiosity. I take a deep breath as I enter the room. "Morwen Romanov. Member of the Brotherhood of Assassins. Fear room part one." A voice announces. The lights dim and beams of the hologram appear. The holo slowly takes form, creating a clown in the center of the room. Clowns, my worst irrational fear._ How do you beat a clown? _I think to myself as the holo finishes. Then I realize laughter will beat them. I start to laugh, it sounds really fake but the systems buys it and the clown vanishes. The beams are scattered around, making little dots on the walls. "Fear room part two." The voice says. I now know what to do, so I stand straight as the second holo begins to form. It is Natasha, bleeding to death on the floor. Loki's kneeling above her with a smile on his face. I take a deep breath and starts talking in a soothing voice. "Loki, don't hurt her." He looks up at me. I look him, or well the hologram, fierce in the eyes and move towards him and Natasha. "Heal her." I command and he raises a glowing hand. The holoNatasha gasps for air as the blood slowly vanishes. The hologram breaks apart again. I faced my deepest fear, seeing the people close to me get hurt, successfully. "Fear room part three." The voice announces. I don't know what to expect. _A fear with passion, what does that even mean?_ The beams gather again and begin forming a hologram slowly. Shock hits me as I realize it's May, grinning at me. I try to think of a way that I could fear May, with passion. A second hologram starts next to her. The beams have only just began giving the holo a shape as I figure out what it will be. _Ward. _My heart skips a beat. _My fear is Ward being taken away, by May. _My eyes widen at this. I glance at the glass, knowing there are people behind it. They can't know about me and Ward! I think about this all in a matter of seconds. The hologram doesn't have a clear shape again. They can't know anything yet. I can't let them. In a reflex, I do the only thing in my mind to stop the hologram. Without clear thinking my right hand slides down my combat boots . In a fluent __movement I take out the knife and throw it, hitting May in the neck. The beams crash down and the knife falls to the ground. _Great, second time I killed May._ I think sarcastically to myself. The room becomes black as night as the lights go out. "Fear room ended." I march out the door.

The three people from the other side of the glass stare at me. "What?" They shake their heads, suddenly very interested in their shoes. "Agent Romanov?" I hear from behind me. I turn around and see Hill standing at the end of the room. My throat goes dry as I walk towards her. "I think we have something to talk about." She says in a stern voice. _Come on, Morwen. Think of something to explain it all. _"It's not what it looks like, ma'am." I try to explain. "Than what is it like?" Only then I notice May standing in the door, the lights in her fear room already turned off. The other members of our team are still fighting their fears. She looks pissed. _Well duh, I killed her hologram. _"I didn't want to kill May." I tell Hill, but May interrupts me. "Well it sure didn't look like you had any trouble with it." "I wanted to help her," I explain. "The other hologram, it was going to hurt her. I didn't want that," I try to sound as honest as possible. "I wanted to protect May. I couldn't stand watching her get hurt. I thought, since the hologram doesn't have any shape yet, I can't stop it from hurting her. So I did what I thought was best. I shut it all down." My voice trembles at the end. I bow my head and whisper, loud enough for May and Hill to hear "I had the desire to help those who didn't ask for help. I just didn't know how, but I couldn't stand to see her hurt again." I feel a reassuring hand on my shoulder and look up to see May next to me. She gives me a slight nod, the look in her eyes telling me everything she can't say. Thanking me for this kind of caring. I feel guilty, but don't let it show. It was true, I do want to help her. However not in the situation in the fear room. "I understand," Hill says, clearing her throat. "I want you in HQ for a week, though. Just in case," I open my mouth to protest but she silences me. "No discussion. You will be at my office tomorrow morning at eight. Don't come late." With that she turns and walks away. "Morwen." I turn my head to May again. She looks as emotionless as usual, with just a flicker of gratefulness in her eyes. I straighten my back. "Whatever, May. Just come and get me in seven days. Tell the others I said hi." She nods, knowing I won't be there next hour to see goodbye when they'll leave. I walk out off the room. I don't want Ward or Skye, or anyone else, to find me. So I just wander around HQ, not going anywhere in particular.

My cell phone rings, waking me up. Looking at it, I see I've gotten some texts from Ward. I also see it's eight o'clock in the morning. "Yep, I'm late." I say to myself. As Hill will be angry anyways, I decide to lay in bed for a while. I've slept terrible. I was lost in the dark, without Ward to keep the nightmares away. _Don't think about it anymore than you have to. _I tell myself, knowing I will freak out if I do. I open the first text and read it. Why aren't you with us? Then the second. Where are you? We are leaving. Aren't you coming with us? Morwen answer me. What's going on? I sigh and reply. Hill wants me to stay at HQ for a while. May knows. He'll ask May all these questions now, I fear, but I know she won't tell him all. She's too well trained for that. With a groan, I stand up and stretch my muscles before getting ready for the day. It's far past nine when I finally arrive at Hill's office. I knock and enter immediately. She's sitting behind her desk, reading files, when I enter. "I think you're missing the point of knocking," I shrug. "You're also late, I see," Again, I shrug. I don't want to be here at headquarters, so I'll make sure to be as much of a pain as I can manage. "Are you going to answer me?" I stay silent. She stands up and walks around the table to face me. "Fine, here's what you're going to do for the rest of the week. You will do all my paperwork, help teachers at the academy with reading their students' papers and clean the training area from any litter. You will do this without any complaining and without causing trouble. Do you understand?" I nod, clenching my jaw to keep my anger inside. This isn't work for an agent like me. I should be training students, not doing boring paperwork. "You can start by helping former Agent Nellson, teaching the specialists." She waves at the door before returning to her desk. I leave and go to the Academy, into the building where the specialists are being trained. "Hi, I'm looking for a teacher named Nellson." I tell the lady at the reception. "Down the corridor, second door on the right. Mister Nellson is expecting you, sweetie." I thank her and follow her directions. The room behind the second door is a auditorium. A man is standing in front of it, talking to his students with wide arm gestures. I wait until he dismisses the class. "Don't forget to hand in your papers." He tells them as they stand up and walk out. "Mister Nellson?" I ask. "I'm supposed to help you, according to Hill." He nods, seeming relieved. "Yes, here you go. I need them examined by tomorrow morning. Do you think you can manage that? O well, when you've read one, you know the others. Thank you anyways." I look down at the pile of papers he gave me. I tell him I'll be finished in time and walk out again. _So much for a fun week at headquarters. _I lay down on the grass in front of the building, enjoying the sunshine on my skin. After a while, I take the first paper and start reading it. "Legends of S.H.I.E.L.D." It says. I turn the page to look at the index. Apparently, the paper is about agents who became legendary. Luckily for me, the papers aren't very extensive so I should be able to finish them quickly. Firstly, I read all the chapters about Black Widow and Hawkeye, making notes and corrections where necessary. The next chapter is about the Angel of Death. _Interesting, Hill does have a sense of humor. _I think to myself._ Somewhere hidden from sight. Probably in her left big toe. _I laugh to myself, than realize I must look like a complete idiot laughing alone on the grass, so I stop. I take out my phone to see a new text from Ward and one from Skye. I read Skye's first. Hi M, enjoying the peace and silence without us? May says you'll join us in a week. I miss you (and I think a certain someone does, too). Bye, S. I smile before replying May is right and I miss her too. I don't react on her comment on Ward. His text isn't as bubbly. May refuses to tell why. What's going on, why the secrets? Another text comes in, again from Ward. Did you sleep well tonight? It's weird without you being around. What's Hill letting you do? My heart beats faster at his caring words.

Three hours later, I've finished all the papers. After the Angel of Death, there were some chapters about the Cavalry and about the origin of legends. I hand the papers back to Nellson. Now that this job is finished, I have to return to Hill, but not before taking a quick lunch beforehand. This time I don't even bother to knock before entering her office. Her head snaps up but she relaxes as she sees it's just me. "You've finished already?" I nod. "Then come join me. There's a lot of paperwork that has to be done." I grab a seat and join her at the table. She hands me some case files and explains me what to do with it. We work in silence for some hours. "Would you like some coffee?" She suddenly asks me. I decide to give up the whole stubborn act and respond with a "Yes, please." She seems happy with my change of behavior and smiles when she comes back with the two mugs. I take mine gladly. "Morwen?" Hill asks after an hour of silence. "Could I ask you for a favor?" "Depends on what kind of favor." "The kind that would make you an angel if you did it." I immediately shake my head. "Not going to happen!" She nods in understanding. "I just thought I had to try. I'm sorry if it was inappropriate. If you want to, you can stop the work for today." I drop the pencil I was holding and leave as soon as she's finished talking. I go to the room where Thomson is held. I asks the guard permission to enter, lying that Hill send me. Thomson seems happy to see me. "Hello, it's me again." He grabs my hand with both of his and shakes it enthusiastic. "What an honor to meet you, miss. Would you like something to drink? I'm afraid I can only offer you some water." He rambles. "No, thank you, mister Thomson. Please, shall we sit?" He bows and sits down. "What can I do for you, miss? I'm just a simple Halfling, but my services are yours." I laugh about this. His behavior is so different from the first time we've met. "Mister Thomson, please. We both know He is not here. Therefore you can treat me like any human." He seems shocked by this, but he keeps his manners. "As you want.. Miss. Why are you visiting?" I explain him about my obligated stay at HQ. "Would you mind telling me about your life as a Halfling?" He nods enthusiastic and starts telling me stories about when he was a kid. We sit for hours and he starts getting more and more agitated. I listen with honest interest. When he tells about the bedtime stories his mother used to tell him, I ask his to tell the stories to me. Eventually, we get interrupted by a soft knock on the door. A guard comes in to tell me it's far past midnight and it wouldn't be appropriate to stay with him longer. "Goodnight mister Thomson, I hope to see you again tomorrow." "Please miss, come again. I found your visit very pleasing. Not like I would have expected according to the stories I've heard, if I may be so bold to say that." I chuckle and assure him it's fine. I walk to my room again and plump on the bed. I'm tired, but I'm afraid to fall asleep. The nightmares will be back again for sure. I shiver by the thought of facing them alone for a whole week. _How am I going to get through this without him?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Morwen pov**

The week passed slow, too slow. Hill made sure I had my days full with boring work to do. In the evenings, I visited mister Thomson. However, all these activities couldn't stop the nightmares, no matter how tired I was. I slowly felt myself losing grip. Now, as the week has finished and my team is getting to pick me up, I am a mess. The lack of sleep clouds my thoughts, the fear from my nightmares makes me act paranoid. I jump at every sound. I stand outside and watch the plane land in front of me. As soon as it lands, I pick up my bag and walk in. I don't even look back at Hill. Mister Thomson said goodbye this morning, there's no other person in whole headquarters that I would miss. Ward stands next to Lola and shouts an Hello as I walk towards him. "Tell May to get out of here. I'm done with this place." I tell him, hearing the tailgate close behind me. He pulls me into a hug. "Had a rough week?" He whispers in my ear. I nod against his chest. We stand still for a while, simply enjoying each other's warmth. I feel the pressure as the plane makes its way up into the air. "I've missed you, little warrior." He kisses me softly. I return the kiss passionately. A cough from behind us makes me jump. Skye and Simmons stand in the doorway. "Are we interrupting something?" Skye chuckles. Ward quickly lets go of my hand and I see him blush. I roll my eyes at Skye, knowing she's just teasing us since I've already told her about me and Ward. "Yes, actually, you are." I respond. I grab Ward's hand again and pull him close. Simmons squeaks in joy and surprise as our lips meet again. I lay my arms around his neck and feel his hands at my waist, pulling me closer. He lets out a soft moan as my tongue enters his mouth. I hear someone else enter the room, but this time we don't break apart. I softly bite Ward's lip. His hands slip to the bottom of my shirt. I slap his hands away playfully, reminded by the presence of the others by another sound of shock. This yields me another kiss. I giggle and kiss him back. Another cough sounds trough the room, this time from someone with a deeper voice. "Shit!" I squeak as I turn around in Ward's grip and see Coulson and May looking at us. I open my mouth to say something to explain the situation, but can't find the right words. Ward is too stunned to respond either. "Ward, Romanov, what a surprise," Coulson's tranquil voice surprises me. "How was your stay at Headquarters?" "It wasn't as good as being with the team, sir." I surprise myself with my calm answer. "I see you've missed us. Something you were planning on telling us perhaps?" Ward swallows loudly behind me. "Sir, we would tell you. Eventually.." Coulson nods and motions him to continue. "Morwen and I are, like, together.." He coughs in awkwardness. "You know this is against protocol, right? A relationship between fellow agents is highly inappropriate." At this, May looks a bit awkward too. This is a reminder of her inappropriate behavior with Ward, too. Ward's arms hug me tighter from behind, making me think to myself how glad I am he didn't have feelings for May. His protective hug gives me the courage to stand up against Coulson. "Technically, we're not fellow agents. I'm still just a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins. Like Skye, I just work with S.H.I.E.L.D. ." I see Fitzsimmons and Skye back away silently. Coulson takes a moment to just look at the two of us, before answering. "I trust that, if it becomes a problem, you'll end it." "So this means it's OK?" Ward asks insecure. "This means it's allowed_._" With that, Coulson turns around to leave us again. I just manage to see a glimpse of his smile before he has his back to us. _He so does ship us. _I laugh to myself. Ward spins me around and kisses me gently. "I guess it's time to make it official than." The joy of Coulson's approval is hearable in my voice. Ward raises an eyebrow and slowly lowers to his knees. My heart misses a beat as he takes my hands in his. His gaze meets mine, looking like he's seeing my soul. "Morwen," May shuffles behind me. I'm not sure if she's exited or awkward. "Would you be my girlfriend?" I laugh at his ridiculousness. He looks at me with puppy eyes. "O, Ward," I exclaim dramatically before launching myself to him and throwing my arms around his neck. "I would love to." I laugh as we both fall to the ground, sadly with him on top. I feel his chest move up and down against me as he laughs. He rolls of me and wraps me in his arms. "Good, because I've got the feeling that if you had said no, May would've made fun of me for the rest of the year." May chuckles and offers me a hand. I take it and pull myself up to my feet again. "Congratulations," She says, giving me one of her rare smiles. "Don't think you don't have to battle with me anymore now." "Don't worry, you won't get rid of me that easily." Ward scrambles to his feet and gives me a peck on my cheek. "I'm going to free Fitzsimmons from their nerves. They'll probably think Coulson is killing us right now." I shrug. "Sure. May, how about we do some battling right now?" She nods happily. Like me, she's always in for some training. We get ready and do some combat training and knife-throwing practicing in the hours remaining until lunch.

Coulson comes barging in, just as I'm about to enjoy my sandwich. "Someone has tried to hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database." With a sigh, I put my sandwich down and get up. "So, I guess we're going to take him in?" "Do we know who it is?" "Did he manages to get into the system?" Coulson holds up his hands, urging us to calm down. "I want Skye to find out who it is. He didn't manage to succeed. We'd better take him in anyways." Skye nods, opens her laptop and starts typing. Since there's nothing to do for me now, I continue eating again. "You're focusing on that sandwich like your life depends on it." Fitz jokes. I toss my napkin at him. "Try fighting May for yourself, than you'll see what amount of energy it takes." He laugh at my attempt to hit him with the paper. "No thank you. I'll leave the fighting to the three of you." I shrug and turn to Simmons. "Jemma, this sandwich is delicious. Thank you for making it for me." She smiles and nods. "Guys, I know who hacked into the database." Skye announces. We all turn our attention to her and she turns the laptop to show us. "His name is Henry Dunkin. He's a low ranked member of the Rising Tide. So it's not a surprise his poor attempt failed.. " "Where is he now?" Skye types for a second. "Canada." May nods and leaves to change our course. "Do you know him in personal, Skye?" Ward asks. She shakes her head. "I might have lived in a van, I was still not a pestlike him." Jemma asks the question that's haunting me for the last few minutes. "What's your problem with him?" Skye grimaced. "He sells his information. Something I'm against too. Those people, they are the scum of the Rising Tide." I know enough and leave to change for the mission. This time, I decide to wear my black with green combat suit. It's like my golden one, but with different detailed patterns and green instead of golden. I go downstairs and practice throwing with these knives. After stating they're still in perfect balance, I get back to the others. We land not long after that. "He's in a farm, five minutes from here." Skye explains, pointing North. We walk, not bothering to take the cars for such short distance. Ward comes next to me and flings his arm around me. "New suit?" He asks. I lean my head against his shoulder. "Yes, I got tired of wearing the golden one every time and this was a gift of a friend." He squeezes my arm. "I like it." "Focus on the mission," May comes walking past us. "Discussions about shopping will have to wait." I roll my eyes at her but do as she says. I let go of Ward and get professional as soon as we see the building appear. Skye and I take the left side of the building, while Ward goes left. Coulson and May enter it through the front door. We hear a struggle. Suddenly someone comes flying through the window, leaving scattered glass everywhere. May jumps trough the window too. Skye and I tackle the man before he gets a chance to run away. I pin him to the ground, my knee pressed to his throat. "Henry Dunkin?" I growl. He stutters a yes. I get him back up, giving Skye space to handcuff him. "You're arrested for trying to break into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database." I tell him. May takes the guy with her to the plane. I tend to follow her, but stop as a sudden headache forces me to the ground. Skye immediately grabs my shoulder. "Are you ok?" She asks worriedly. I assure her it's nothing, telling her to go ahead. _Please, help me. _The thought pierces my mind. I gasp in shock. Then it strikes me that it must be a telepath, who's in need of my help. _Where are you?_ I ask him or her. _Basement. Please, get me out of here. _I get up and run inside. I kick the door to the basement in. "Anyone here?" I yell, drawing my gun in case it's a trap. "I'm down here! Please, I can't move." A girl's voice yells back. I run down the stairs. There's indeed a girl, bound to a chair. "Don't worry, I'll get you out." I reassure her. After making sure the basement is safe, I kneel down next to her and cut the ropes. She almost falls out of the chair. I catch her just in time and hold her in my arms. "Are you hurt?" She shakes her head. The sound of footsteps down the stairs make me look up. "Morwen?" Ward comes running into the basement. As soon as he sees the girl in my arms, he lowers his gun. He kneels besides us and takes the girl from me. "Go tell Simmons to make room for her." He orders me. I nod and run to the plane. "There was a girl held hostage in the basement," I tell them as soon as I get in. "Simmons, make a room ready for her. May, please put that son of a bitch in lock-up before I slash his throat." Ward gets in too, carrying the girl in his arms. He quickly follows Jemma to an empty room. _Thank you._ I hear her whisper in my head. _No problem, little one. Take some rest, I'll be with you in a moment. You're safe now. _I feel her exit my mind, as the headache is gone as sudden as it came. "It was just a little girl." Fitz mumbles shocked, before taking off to the lab. He's right, she couldn't have been older than eight years. "Why would he take a little girl with him?" I turn around to see that Ward has come back. "I mean, it doesn't make sense. What would you need a girl for, if you're going to hack into a secured database?" I think about that for a while. "She's a telepath. Maybe he thought she could get him the passwords." His eyes widen at that. "How do you know she's telepathic?" "She called for me," I explain, tapping the sides of my head. "Didn't you hear her too?" "None of us did," May mingles in the conversation, looking thoughtful. "Maybe you should talk to her." She suggests. I nod, saying I will. However, I first got to change into a more normal outfit. I replace my cat suit for some jeans and a plain black top. Suddenly hands grab me at my waist. I jump and flinch away before realizing it's just Ward trying to hug me. "I didn't mean to startle you." He apologizes. He leans forward to hug me, slower this time. I accept the hug and return it with a kiss. It swiftly deepens, as we push our bodies closer together. The passions grow. He makes a deep, pleased growl as I bite his lip softly. He breaks our kiss to lower his lips to my neck, kissing it as he slowly moves downwards. I push him away softly. "Ward," I pant. "I've got to see the girl." He slowly steps back, fixing his hair. I kiss him on his cheek, hoping it lightens his disappointment. "Go," He says, kissing me back.

I enter the little girls room. She's sitting at the edge of the bed. As soon as she sees me, she leaps of it and hugs me. "Whoa, hi there." I laugh. Her sudden affection makes me feel awkward. I take her hand and lead her to her bed. "Are you feeling better?" I ask her. "Yes, thank you for saving me," She blushes. "I'm sorry about invading your mind. I just didn't want to be left behind." I stroke her hair, reassuring her I didn't mind. "Could you tell me why you called me? The others told me they haven't heard anything." "I can read minds, but projecting my own is hard," She explains, taking little bites from the cookie I give her. "You seemed familiar. That's why I could call you." I wonder why my thoughts must've sound familiar. I haven't met the girl before. "Do you know me?" She asks. I shake my head, making her look sad. "I'm sorry," She says shyly. "I thought you were the angel." I let out a sharp, surprised laugh. "Why would I be an angel?" "Not an angel, the angel. You look like the angel from my bedtime stories. The sorcerer used to tell me stories," She tells me, reaching for her head. "About an angel and him." I chuckle. "Nice to finally meet you, Emma." She surprises me by hugging me fiercely. "I knew it was you!" She yells happily. I ruffle trough her hair. "You're my hero." I kiss her on the forehead. At times like this, it doesn't matter I chose the wrong side in the battle of New York. To some people, I am a hero anyways. "Thank you, although I don't think Loki would like being called a hero. He likes being the bad guy." I wink at her, making her chuckle. She snuggles up beside me and yawns. "Go to sleep, little one. I'll keep watch over you." She mumbles something back, already to sleepy to think clearly. My mind however is very active. I think about my time during the battle of New York. About the chitauri and the Avengers. Most of all, I think of Loki. My friend, regardless of our different. It's funny how it all worked out. I wonder about how it would've been if I hadn't done what I have. _I made the right decisions._ I tell myself. I look at the little girl in my arms. Loki was so shocked, when he found out he was linked with the mind of a puny mortal. I liked her immediately_, _just for confusing Loki. Neither of us had expected to begin to care so much for her. I lay her on the bed carefully and turn off the lights as I leave. May looks up as I enter the living room. "How's the girl?" She asks, as she hands me a bottle of soda. "She's fine, a little shocked still." "Found out who she is? Coulson has already arranged a good spot for her in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility." I sit down on the couch and take a second before responding. "Her name is Emma. She became an orphan just before the battle of New York. I don't know why nobody was looking for her. It's like she's all alone in this world." I say sadly, caring for the girl. May comes to sit next to me. She lays a reassuring arm around my shoulders. "There's nothing you could've done to prevent her abduction. Don't feel responsible for the girls poor situation." I smile lightly at her. "Thanks, momma may." Her eyes widen at my teasing nickname. It's silence for a while before she softly says. "You're welcome. Goodnight, Morwen."


	10. Chapter 10

**Morwen pov**

I go check on the girl the next morning. Ward mumbles a bit in his sleep, as I wiggle away underneath his arm and escape the bed. Emma is already awake, sitting in the living room. She looks up as I come in. "Hi," I greet her. "Did you sleep well?" She nods and gives me a hug. "Where are they taking me now?" She asks timidly. I sit down with her before answering, choosing my words carefully. "Phil thinks it is best to bring you to a home for kids like you. Special kids." "Do all the kids there have powers?" I nod, making her sigh in relief. "All my life, people looked at me like I'm weird. It felt like I was in a zoo, but on the other side of the glass," Tears fill her eyes. I hug her protectively. I'm not the cuddling type, but this girl deserves an exception. "Will you come visit me?" She asks. I reassure her I will, as many times as I can. "I have something for you," She says, jumping up. "Wait here!" She runs back to her room and returns swiftly. She hands me a little package, wrapped in black velvet. "Thank you." I say kindly as I take it. Curiosity makes me want to open it immediately, but I wait for her to sit down again. "It's not from me. It's Loki's." My hands stop halfway through opening it. "He told me where he left it, right before he went away. He asked to give it to you." My hands fall limb. I stare at the package, not sure I want to open it. It's Asgardian and unknown, making it an 084. "What's in it?" I whisper to her. I don't dare to raise my voice, afraid someone will walk by and hear us. "I don't know," She says happily. "Come on, unwrap it." She doesn't wait for me to do it. Instead she takes the package and unwraps it before I can stop her. Looking exited, she hands it back to me. I look at the contens. My eyes fill with tears as I think of the moment I first saw it.

_Flashback_

:Short time before Loki's capturing:

I look at the man pacing back and forth in front of me. "Could you stop it?" I ask annoyed. He looks up. It seems like I interrupted his thoughts. "What were you thinking of? Do you miss your girl back home?" I tease him as I punch him in the arm playfully. He shakes his head. "I don't have a girl back home," He answers honestly. "No one wants to be with a monster." I roll my eyes at him. "You're not a monster. You're a diva," He laughs and punches me back with a grin. "Anyways, what were you thinking of? Are you planning something?" "Yes, in fact I am." A sly grin lightens his face. "O god, you're going to do something bad, aren't you?" "Don't speak to me of gods!" He growls angrily. No matter how many times I tried to explain it's just a saying here, it still strikes a nerve. "I'm going to throw a party." He laughs maleficiently. "I don't think we have the same idea of a party. Fill me in please?" "I'm going to give the so-called Avengers something to do." He announces as he magically changes his outfit. He looks fabulous in his black and green suit. He starts giving orders to the chitauri and the humans under his spell. It hurts me to see Clint and Erik doing what he wants. I keep myself from running towards Clint by telling me this is for the best. "Loki?" I can't let him go without knowing if Natasha's best friend will stay like this forever. "Are you releasing the humans, after you've defeated the Avengers?" He looks at me doubtfully. "Is that what you want? To let your little agent friends live their lives again?" I nod, lifting my chin up as I stand firm in front of him. He laughs. All the mischief leaves his face as he leans in and kisses me on the cheek. "Then that is what will happen, deary." I laugh, making him look at me curious. "What's so funny?" He asks. I shake my head. "Nothing," However he keeps looking at me, so I tell him. "It's just that I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, working with an alien, asking to free other agents." _And delaying you. "_It seems rather paradoxal, indeed," He admits smiling. "Maybe we should change that, then." This time it's my turn to be confused. He makes a swift move with his hand and a little black box appears in it. He slightly bows, grinning mysteriously again, and hands me the box. "Time to get you to a higher level." He says as he offers me the box. I open it, revealing a beautiful necklace. The chain is made of the deepest black metal I've ever seen, glimmering softly in the dim light. A dark green pendant hangs on it, surrounded by black detailed strings. "Loki, it's beautiful." I whisper. He takes it out of the box makes me turn around. I feel him lift my hair carefully as he places the jewelry around my neck. I turn to him. He surprises me by hugging me tight. _I'm hugging a freaking alien_. I think to myself, as I embrace him. _Earth's number one enemy, hugging me like a schoolboy._ He lets go of me and takes my hands in his instead. "Morwen," He says, for the first time completely serious. "I know you had your orders. However, I'm glad I've met you. Maybe my operation will fail because of it, maybe it won't. One thing is sure, I wouldn't have wanted to miss this. I see you as a dear friend. My only midgardian friend," I look in shock as he speeches. _This wasn't planned._ "Whatever happens, please wear my gift. That way, I know you'll stay save." He lets go of my hands. Not sure what to say, I kiss him on the cheek. "Go make your show," I tell him and wink. "I won't be here when you get back." He chuckles. "I didn't think you would. I might be the god of lies, but you sure have more than a fair part of that yourself." I grin and bow mockingly. "At your service, my diva king." I sass. He laughs and asks me if he could drop me off somewhere. "I've always wanted to go to Paris." I wink. He takes my hand. A green smoke surrounds us as he teleports. Just before we leave, I can hear the chitauri exclaim. "Hail the Angel!" The next second I'm on top of the Eiffel Tower. Loki lets go of my hand. "Stay safe, "He tells me as he kisses me on the cheek one last time. "Stay out of the world's chaos I'm going to cause." I hug him goodbye. "I know what you did," He whispers in my ear. "It was a very humane thing to do." "Don't make me regret my choices." I whisper back. He lets go of me. "I won't promise, but I'll try." He says before teleporting away. I look down, considering if I've made the right decisions the past few days. _At least I helped people. _Then it strikes me that I'm actually on top of the tower, balancing in the air. "Loki you son of a mischievous biscuit!" I yell to the sky.

_End of flashback_

"Morwen, are you okay?" Emma's voice makes me look up. "Yes," I say a bit shaken. "Just thinking of my last moment with Loki. You know, before he randomly murdered everybody.." She nods in understanding. "Are you going to keep the necklace?" I nod, before wrapping it up again. "Yes, but no way I'm wearing it," Again she nods. "Could you do me a favor?" I ask her, a grin forming on my face. "Sure, what do you want me to do?" "Go wake up Fitz for me. Kiddy style." She chuckles and hops away. I grab myself some breakfast. After a few bites, Fitz comes barging in. He's soaking wet and feathers are sticking out of his messy hair. I burst out in laughter. "Sure, go ahead and laugh," He groans sarcastically. "That girl is evil!" This makes me laugh even more. He briskly grabs himself some breakfast and grumpily walks away again. As I finish mine, Coulson comes in. "We're almost there, time to say goodbye." I walk towards the lab with him as we land, where we find the others. Skye's already hugging the girl goodbye. She's followed by Fitzsimmons. I take a stand next to Ward, whose turn it is to say goodbye. He gives Emma a soft, but professional handshake. She seems impressed by the big agent. I lean to whisper in her ear. "He likes hugging." Which result in her jumping up and giving him a warm hug. I laugh at Ward's face as he awkwardly hugs her back. Then it's my turn. She gives me a big bear hug. I lift her up and swing her around, making her laugh. "Goodbye, little one." I grin to her. She chuckles. "Come visit me soon, Angel." I mask my surprise at this nickname by hugging her one more time. She shakes hands with Coulson and May before leaving the plane. As soon as she's out of sight, May turns to me. "Angel?" She asks, raising one eyebrow in sarcasm. I roll my eyes. "Yes, because I got her out of the basement." The corner of her mouth lifts up a bit. Fitz interrupts before she can make a witty response. "Have you heard of the Angel of Death?" He asks excited. Simmons joins him. Within seconds, they've started a high speed conversation about the famous Angel of Death. Ward and Skye take off to do some training. I follow May to the cockpit. "I'm impressed by how fast Fitzsimmons talks." I joke, as she flips some switches and makes the plane ready to take off. "They seems to know the story of the Angel quite well." She states, not taking her eyes of the sky as she controls the plane. I shrug. "It's a popular story." "High level agent betraying S.H.I.E.L.D. to work with the enemy. Many people still wonder why she did it and where she's now." I pull my knees up to my chest. "Well, must be nice to you not to stand in the spotlights anymore." May slowly turns to look at me. "I'd rather keep them. My story was rather positive, the Angel's is filled with hate and betrayal." I admit she's right. It's silent for a while before she softy continues. "I think the Angel did the right thing. She shouldn't regret her decisions." "Tell that to the people who died," I state bitterly. "It's a good thing they have locked her up. She deserves it." May lets out a sharp, mean laugh. "Don't fool me. We both know that's not true." I stand up and

leave. "You're right. They did something far worse." I respond, before closing the door behind me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Morwen pov**

I sit on my bed, holding the necklace in my hand. Tears slowly drop down from my cheek. After my conversation with May, I realized how much I missed Loki. In the few days I met him, we grew close. He was a mass murderer, something I will never forget. But he was my friend and I've forgiven him. All he wanted to do was what he thought was right. He only wanted to get his father's approval. I look up to the ceiling. "Heimdal, if you can hear me, please tell Loki I miss his fabulousness." I whisper, still managing to smile a bit. Emma awakened a side of me which I thought I had buried. _So much for going back to normal. _I smirk. _Or whatever normal is supposed to be after New York._ I remember the foul looks I was given at my return. Some thought I had to be killed for treason, others thought I had to be rewarded for my actions. I can agree with both of them, I'm afraid. I fidget with the chain of the necklace. My door opens and May silently steps trough it. I quickly hide the necklace in my bra and wipe away my tears. "We have a new case." She says softly, before leaving again. Her distaste for emotions works in my benefit for once. I refresh myself quickly before meeting the others. Luckily, no-one brings up Emma or the Angel again. I scold to myself in silence about what a emotional wreck I am at the moment. "Someone tried to imitate Stark," Coulson starts the debriefing. He shows us a photo of a man, wrapped in pieces of metal and weaponry. I regain my focus and look close to the photo. While I'm pretending to be extremely interested with it, I feel May stare at me. "He claims to be the Metal Maniac and is causing chaos in Rio." I whistle. "Rio, nice." Skye chuckles. "Of course that's why we've taken this job, to enjoy the sightseeing." I wink at her before turning serious again. Judging by the looks of the older agents, my interruption isn't appreciated_._ At the moment, I don't care. Clint has taught me to rely on humor, when you can't trust on other emotions. __"Is he a danger?" I ask. "Not really. The only thing he has been doing so far is causing disturbances. However, his suit isn't designed well." Fitz takes this as a sign to give his opinion. "The suit isn't stable. Stark build in safety parts and he has his ..," He falls silent, pointing at his chest. "Heart thingy. This guy, he's just a ticking time bomb." We nod in understanding. Jemma looks like she's about to give us a full explanation about Tony's heart. "Grab your gear," May orders, sparing us that talk. "We're going to Brazil."

Just as I'm loading my guns, Ward comes into my room. "Hey," I greet him as he hugs me. "Are you ready?" "Always," He sits down and pulls me onto his lap. I let my head rest against his shoulder. "Are you feeling ok?" His breath tickles my cheek as he speaks. "I noticed you weren't very happy this morning." "It's nothing," I assure him. "I just didn't like to sent the girl to an orphanage." He shakes his head. His hand softly cups my face and turns it to him. I look down but he forces me to meet his eyes. My breath stops for a moment as I look into them. "What's wrong, little warrior?" He asks worriedly. I realize how lucky I am to have him. My heart breaks as I think about how I've been keeping secrets from him. I lay my hand on his chest, right above his heart. My fist clenches and unclenches as I struggle with myself. "Morwen?" I open my mouth, but no words come out. I panic as I struggle, forcing myself to talk while part of me wants to keep quite. The fight within me rages. Tears form in my eyes. I want to tell him about Loki so bad, but I fear his judgment. "Morwen, please talk to me." He says softly, forcing me to look him in the eyes again. I scowl at myself for being this emotional, but at the same time I realize I can't help myself. My breathing comes more difficult and black dots appear in my eyesight as my mental confusion spreads through my body. I fall from his lap and land on the ground. Ward immediately jumps of the bed and crawls next to me. When he sees my panicked face, he puts his hands on my shoulders and pushes me to the ground. "Easy. Lay down," I try to do as I'm told, but the shivers going through my body make it hard to stay still. He forces me down, making me lay flat on my back. This makes me panic even more. I begin to kick around wildly, like a trapped animal. "Morwen, easy. Do you hear my breathing? Breath with me. Calm down girl." I nod, tears streaming down my face, and imitate his breathing. We sit a moment in silence as we breath together. Eventually, my heartbeat slows down and I'm able to breathe normally. "You're ok?" He asks, his face just centimeters from mine. I nod, still focusing on my breathing. He gives me a soft peck. "Good, you worried me for a second though." "S sorry," I say, still shaky. "Ward?" "Hmm?" "Could you get off of me?" I grin weakly. He looks down. Unknowingly, he used his whole body to make me lay still. His knees are piercing down my hips as his legs hold mine to the ground. His hands are locked in mine above my head. He blushes and chuckles awkwardly. "I am so sorry." He apologizes. I lift my face to kiss him. He leans in. I take advantage of the moment to shift, making us roll over. Now I'm on top. His hands grab my hips and he flips us over again. I use my legs go hold me steady, hanging at his hips rather than falling on the ground again. He lowers us, pushing me back on the ground again. This time with him fully on top of me instead of just hanging above me. I kiss him slowly, passionately. "O boy, bad timing," Jemma's voice suddenly sounds from the doorway. Ward looks up at her, but doesn't make a move to release me. "I'm so sorry. I just came to get you for lunch." She explains, before walking out awkwardly. "Well, that was interesting." "Get off of me." "Why would I?" He teases. I give him one of my adorable smiles and say kindly "Because if you don't, I'll grant you serious injuries." He laughs and rolls off me. "I guess I'd need to Phil Coulson in on that." I start laughing too as I get the joke. "Yes, you May do that." We roll over the ground from laughter, letting go of the anxiety from the previous moment. The panicked feeling slowly weakens as I push is away forcefully. We still chuckle as we go to the others and join them for lunch. Skye raises an eyebrow, but I shake my head and start eating. She doesn't have to know everything. "How long until we arrive?" Fitz asks. "Twenty minutes." "Then I'd better check on all the ICE'rs." He says before getting up, joined by Simmons. I finish my lunch quickly and get suit up too.

I'm ready just in time. Again I'm wearing my green suit, as the gold one still misses a knife. I can't replace it, since items can't easily be delivered on a plane and we move around all the time. I hide my necklace in my boots, not knowing where else it'll be safe. I join the others and we move out. May drives the SUV with me and the other girls in it. We race trough Rio, with May's terrifying driving skills. We stop at a big plaza. "This is where he would come, according to his announcing on the Internet." Skye tells us as we get out. "Which idiot maniac puts his agenda on the Internet?" I roll my eyes. We spread out, staying unnoticed by the many people on the plaza. "I've got a visual on him," I hear Coulson say trough my earphone. "At ten o'clock from the SUV's." I turn to look over my shoulder at the spot he says. There's indeed a guy dressed in metal. He's walking towards the center of the plaza. "Let's put an ICE'r in that guy before he starts hurting people." May says grimly. However, Coulson orders her to stand still. "We can't randomly take out someone in a crowded area." He tells her. Much time to discuss isn't given to her, as the man starts shouting. We move to him while he threatens an old lady. Swift and soundless we come closer. All other people are already running away, leaving only us, the lady and the metal man in the center of the plaza. "Guys," Fitz says timidly. "You'd better hurry. That guy's about to crash." I react immediately. "Everyone, stand down!" I order them as I take off into a sprint myself. Within a second I've reached the old lady. I pull her away from the man. Ward takes her from me and leads her away. I see the others have taken their distance. They've started getting civilians towards safety, clearing the plaza to minimize the damage. "Morwen, get out of there!" Fitz screams. I run, but get stopped by a metal hand clenching my arm. "Where ya going honey?" He says with a thick accent. I try to free myself, but his grip is too firm. "Don't ya want to see tha show?" "No thanks." I snap as I kick him in the head. He lets go of me as he stumbles back. I run away again. I hear cracks coming from behind me and look over my shoulder. The man looks terrified. His mouth opens to scream in horror as his suit crashes. I use my arms to protect myself as the weaponry in his suit go off. The explosion causes me to fall backwards and I shriek in horror. I don't feel pain, to my surprise. As the shockwave is over, I examine my body to see I'm not hurt in any way. I hear screams coming for the civilians and the clear voice of the agents telling them to stand back. Coulson comes running towards me, making sure the man is indeed death before kneeling next to me. "Are you ok?" He asks. I nod and scrawl to my feet. I dust myself off. He sighs in relieve and leads me back to the SUV's, where he orders me to wait. I sit there while the other agents make sure everyone is ok and the local authorities can handle it. I examine my body again. I still can't believe I got out unharmed. The only thing I feel is a soft warmth by my left foot. I take of my boot to see the necklace, it's pendant glowing softly. I take it out and look at it. It's warm indeed. The green stone glows and seems to whirl on the inside. _It's beautiful_. I sigh to myself. I want to take a closer look, but then I hear footsteps coming from behind. I quickly drop the necklace back in my boot again and put in on. "Good job," May says, taking a seat next to me in the car. "I don't think many would've taken the same risk." "It comes with the job. I couldn't let that poor lady explode with the creep." "About that lady, she wanted you to have this. As token of her appreciation." May hands me a cute little flower, before leaving the car again. I try to thank her, but she already slams the door shut. I use my time alone to look at the necklace again. I look at it, the chain shimmering in the sunlight. What looked like scratches seems to be words forming a poem. I look at it closer and manage to read the tiny inscription. "I follow my path that has no end. Going everywhere, making foe nor friend. Over the globe I go, around and around. I've never hidden, I've been never found. Unpredictable, fear my roar. Lightning up the midlands and shore." It says on the right side of the pendant. I frown at this poem, that's more like a riddle. I think about what it could mean. I give up fast, deciding to ask Fitzsimmons later. Looking at the left side, I see another poem. "Glittering points that downward trust. Sparkling weapons that never rust. Out with the secrets, they cannot be hidden. In with the lies, the past rewritten." This doesn't make sense to me either. I put the necklace back in my boot again. Getting bored of waiting for the others, I lean against the door and close my eyes. Out of the sudden, I feel tired. Just as I managed to get into a comforting position, someone opens the door as I fall out. I smack on the ground and groan. "I'm sorry.," Ward offers me a hand. I take it and pull myself up. "It's ok. Although I'm falling a bit too much today.." He gives me a small, fake looking smile. "What's up?" I ask him. He pushes me back into the car, then follows me and closes the door. "How did you do it?" "What?" "I saw the explosion, I saw you. How did you do it?" I shake my head. "What are you talking about?" "Your move, of course. No-one else saw it, but I did. Tell me, how did you do it?" He urges me. "Ward, I don't know what you are talking about!" "You came out unharmed," He explains, finally getting the fact that I don't understand him. "The explosion never even hit you. How did you manage to do that? It was like you had some freaking force field around you." I shake my head slowly. It hurts me how terrified he is. Like I'm some kind of alien. "I don't know, Grant. Maybe it's one of Fitz' improvements on the suit. He has been trying a lot of that lately." I lie, not wanting to tell him about Loki and the necklace. He seems to relax a bit, luckily. After a moment of tense silence, he chuckles. "When did I became Grant?" I roll my eyes at him. "You always call me by my first name, am I not allowed to use yours?" He gives me a peck. "I dare you, Romanov." I give him a soft punch on the arm. "Stop it, Supervising Agent Ward." He sighs, holding his hands up in defeat. "Fine, you know what? Call me whatever you like." I smile mischievously at him. "I'll sure do, pumpkin pie." "O lord, no! Anything but that." He laughs as he pushes me playfully, causing me to almost fall. He grabs my wrists and pulls me back to him, hugging me. I close my eyes, drifting off to sleep. He hugs me tighter as he sees my tiredness. "Go to sleep, little sleepyhead." He chuckles. I close my eyes firmer and feel myself drift further away. "Wake me up when we're home." I tell him. He reassures me he will and I snuggle up next to him. "You're cute when you're almost asleep." He whispers, annoying me. I'm not sweet, I'm an assassin.. "Whatever, now let me sleep for a second." I mumble, but he's not giving up that easily. "What? No witty response?" I groan, getting really irritated now. "Grant Ward, I warn you. Let me sleep for a moment!" It's silence after that. However I can feel his chest move as he silently laughs. I huff annoyed, making him laugh even harder. Then I fall asleep completely.


	12. Chapter 12

**Morwen pov**

He didn't wake me up when we arrived at the plane. Instead, I wake up in my own bed. I hear him breathing next to me, stroking my hair. It is so comfortable, that I pretend to be asleep for a while more. Eventually, he kisses my cheek and whispers for me to wake up. I reluctantly do as he says.

He leaves me alone so I can get dressed. To my relieve, he has let me sleep in my normal clothing. Of course he did, he is a decent man.

As I get my breakfast, the whole team is already waiting for me. Coulson declares an unofficial meeting. "This Clearvoyend guy is becoming a major problem." He starts his speech. The following hours, we listen to the information he gives us about the Clearvoyend and his man. Sometimes one of us makes a comment, clarifies something or frowns in anger. Our breakfast is long forgotten by the time Coulson finishes. The task he gives us is clear. We are going after this man.

To be ready at all times, we get our orders to get dressed for mission. I leave Ward to his own and put on my black and green suit. At the last moment, I take my necklace and put in on. I tuck it away underneath my suit. The metal feels cold but nice on my skin. The warmth from Rio has vanished. I don't know what has happened there, why I didn't get hurt. But it feels like Loki is watching over me, which is a reassuring thought.

I go to find Ward, who is of course training. Coulson told us to spare our strengths, so I stop him from his heavy exercise. "Hi," I great him with a kiss on the lips. He looks annoyed by my interruption, but tries to hide it. "It will be okay. We will catch this guy." I reassure him. No-one else is in the room nor the lab. So I am not embarrassed as I hug him almost inappropriately tight, squishing myself against him. He hugs me back and kisses my forehead. "My little warrior." He whispers into my hair. I create some distance so that I can look him into the eyes. He puts his forehead to mine, making me smile. The smile disappears immediately when my necklace starts burning into my flesh. I gasp, but can't seem to move. Images come rushing through my thoughts. I see a teenager, who looks so hurt that it breaks my heart. The next image is the same teenager killing his brother. With a shock, I realize it is Ward. The heat on my chest gets worse, like the necklace is trying to burn its way through my skin. The next image is one of Ward in prison. He is getting a visit from another familiar man. I've seen him with Coulson once or twice. _Garrett_, his name pops up from my memories. The fourth image shows Ward in the forest, getting trained by Garrett. The images come faster now, showing me his life from that point on. It is overwhelming, to see his life from his eyes. I don't know how this can happen, but I blame the necklace and Loki. Then I recognize a pattern in the events. Filled with shock, I take a step back. Forcing myself to break free from his touch. The images immediately stop rushing through my head, although the burning remains. Ward looks at me in confusion. He obviously didn't notice any of this happening.

I back away fearfully. "Morwen?" I shake my head. "Are you okay?" "You," The words get stuck in my throat. He comes to me with his arms spread out lovingly. "You're the enemy." He holds his hands up, to show me he doesn't want to harm me. But now, all I can think of is his hands around my neck. "What are you talking about?" His voice sounds soothing. "I am your partner, why would I be your enemy?" I reach for my knives as I force myself to calmly speak the words that will change us. "You are Hydra."

In an instant, his face changes. All the soft features disappear, like a mask falling off. He seems to doubt for a second, but then he rushes forward to me. I try to hold him off, to throw a knife. But I'm frozen in place by shock. He didn't even try to convince me otherwise. By the time I can make my muscles obey, he is too close to do anything. I try to hit him, but he grabs my arm and spins it around. Within a shameful small amount of time, he has won the fight. I struggle to get out of his arms, but it doesn't work. "O stop it." He growls. Strange enough, my body obeys. His mouth comes next to my ear. "How did you know?" I shake my head, refusing to tell him anything about the 084 around my neck. He drags me backwards. I scream as I realize what he's about to do. All the doors around us are closed. Nobody hears my screams as he drags me towards the end of the room. He forces me on the ground and kicks me down as I try to get up. My wounds from Somalia haven't healed entirely yet and he knows all my weak spots after all our time together. "You weren't supposed to find out." It seems to be his only explanation. It is all I need. I've seen Garrett's plans in his mind. It doesn't involve a living S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that can stop him. "Ward, please." I beg him. But he shakes his head and kicks me in the head. I'm barely conscious, fighting to keep my eyes open. I know that when I close them, I die. With an incredible effort, I look him in the eyes. They are cold and hard. All the kindness he has showed me seems to have never existed. "Tell me one thing," He raises an eyebrow. "Was it worth it?" He kneels next to me, his face inches from mine. "Every last bit of it." His breath feels warm on my blood drained face. "Then make it quick and shoot me." I dare him. If he's going to kill me, he shouldn't be doing it as a coward. However, he shakes his head and backs away again. I try to crawl from the dangerous spot, but my body refuses to move. "I suppose even Angels have to fall down eventually." His words don't shock me like they should. I'm numb from the pain and hurt emotions. I watch him expressionless as he pushes the right buttons. My body falls back slightly as the doors start to open. The winds whips my hair around my face. All this time, I keep looking him straight in the eyes. If I go down, the last bit of his soul will go down with me. "See you later, Grant Ward. I will be the one in black." With those words, I feel myself fall back entirely. At the last moment, I see regret flashing over his face. In an instant, he throws me a black package. A cry escapes his mouth. For a moment, I truly believe he was forced to do this. But then he turns around and ends it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Morwen pov**

My body flies through the sky, with the package next to it. I recognize it as a parachute. I wonder if this is his sick way of making it more thrilling, as I try to put it on. My body is sore, but I manage to get it on and working before it's too late. My parachute opens in time and I fly over a large forest. I'm too tired to look around for any indications of where I am. Instead, I use my last strength to get to the ground safely before closing my eyes and letting the unconsciousness take over.

I wake up with a huge headache. I raise my hand to touch the place where I've been kicked by Ward. My hair is covered with blood. I search for water for a while, already tired by the moment I find it. I manage to suppress my thoughts about Ward and Hydra until I've cleaned and hydrated myself. Only after securing my surroundings, I let the hurting thoughts into my mind. Ward's betrayal makes me want to cry, but I hold my tears back. I loved him, but he just used me. After a long moment of self-pity, the angers takes over. I shout out loud, using every curse I know. I hit and kick the trees around me, wishing they were him. Most of all, I blame myself for not having seen it before. If it wasn't for that necklace, I would still be trusting him. My cursing and shouting continues until I fall to the ground in exhaustion. Suddenly a huge black dog appears out of nowhere. It growls at me, showing its teeth. I growl back in frustration. My body might be tired from hours of shouting and kicking, my rage hasn't cooled down yet. The dog leaps in an attempt to attack me. In midair, I shoot him point black with my night night gun. He falls down, but I don't even care enough to look at it a second time. A moment later, a girl comes storming out of the bushes. "Magic!" She yells, kneeling beside the unconscious dog. "What did you do to him?" she screams at me. "it was just an icer. He'll be asleep for a while." She glares at me before jumping to her feet. The girl starts cursing madly at me. Not in the mood for weird girly drama, I stand up too and walk over to her. I slap her in the face, making her shut up. "one: your dog attacked me so don't play the victim. Two: don't yell at people older than you, it's bad behavior. Thee: did you seriously call him Magic?" She looks taken aback by my lack of care. Holding up a hand to her already swollen cheek, she answers me. "Well excuse me," sarcasm drips from her voice. "I didn't' know there were behavior rules in the middle of a forest," I raise an eyebrow. No matter the shit I'm in, she interests me. Ward and Hydra are far away, and I'm stuck in this forest with a strange girl. I might as well focus on her. "Besides, I name my dog whatever I want." "Sure, but Magic, really? There's nothing magical about him besides his size." She starts yelling again. I guess I've hit a nerve.. Not that I care, Ward has hit a bit more than a nerve to me. "There's nothing wrong with magic! You don't know about magic. You're just too stupid." She fiercely puts her chin up, trying to stand taller although she's much shorter than me, even though I'm just wearing my normal combat boots. "You're sure one of those stupid people that think NASA is behind the battle of New York" _Well, this conversation took an interesting turn._ "I'm sure you're one of those people that think aliens don't exist." I laugh arrogantly at this. "Sure girl, whatever." I start to walk away, deciding she and her dog aren't interesting enough to keep my mind from the real problems.

A rock hits the back of my head. I rapidly spin around and dodge another one. My hand goes to the back of my suit, but I don't grab the handle of my knife yet. The girl smirks. "You still have to apologize to magic. My magic is better than anything." I raise an eyebrow again, getting annoyed but determined not to show this little git. "Why are you so obsessed with magic?" "Because, if Black Widow would have it, she'll be unstoppable." I let out a short, surprised laugh. "Wait what?" "The Avenger, black widow," She responds arrogantly, like she knows everything about her and I'm stupid for not knowing exactly what she's talking about. "She's the best. When I grow up, I want to be just like her! If she had magic, she would have beaten Loki on her own, easily." I just laugh at her. That's when I notice her black boots and what seems like some red clay clinging to parts of her hair. I laugh even harder, becoming breathless. I didn't think I would laugh again, until I would be holding Ward's dead body in my hands. But this sure is funny. The girl huffs in annoyance, but I ignore her. Until she throws another rock at me. It hits me on my head, causing me to see black dots for a moment. I slowly stand up, facing the little git. A look of horror spreads on her face as she sees she has gone too far. "So you like the assassin?" I snap at her, grabbing my knife. "Well, enjoy." With that, I flick my wrist and send the knife flying towards her. It hits the tree behind her, just above her head. She is frozen in shock. My second knife hits the ground between her feet. She starts screaming, although no-one can hear us in this forsaken place. "Still a fan of assassins now?" I laugh as she falls to the ground trembling. All my anger from Ward's betrayal and my own stupidity comes rushing out now. "Please, don't kill me." She cries. I stop as I see my reflection in her watered eyes. _What am I doing? _I let go of the fourth knife in horror. I fall on my knees to the ground. "Who the hell are you?" She sighs, sounding fascinated rather than scared.

I look her in the eyes and decide to tell her the truth. I've got nothing to lose. No-one will believe her if she'd tell them and I'm stuck here. "I'm your dream," I laugh humorlessly. "Shorter version of the Black Widow" She shakes her head. "No seriously, who are you?" "You believe in magic, yet to refuse to see me as an assassin?" I shake my head in faked disappointment. "I'm Black Widows trainee." To my surprise, she extends a hand. "let's start over. I'm Helena. Fifteen year old runaway from Idaho. And this is my dog, called Magic." She introduces herself and points to the dog who's just starting to wake up a bit. I shake her hand. "Morwen Romanov, twenty-three year old agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.." _And I feel like I'm at an AA meeting._ She gasps and starts trembling. "omycroft , I just screamed and threw rocks at an shield agent." I raise an eyebrow. "I thought we've just met?" "Right," She blushes. "Anyways. You're a Romanov? Can you do magic? Why are you here?" I stand up and dust myself off. "Take me out of this place and I'll tell you on our way." She agrees with the deal. We wait half an hour in silence as the dog recovers. Or well, the silence comes from me. She tries to have a conversation, but I ignore her until she stops talking. I'm not yet in the mood for chatter. I first want to get out of here and take my revenge. Eventually she leads me the way. A full hour long, she fangirls to me about the Avengers and the Battle of New York. Her funny, energetic way of moving makes me chuckle every now and then. This little girl is so different from the people I meet at a daily basis. Yet, she's as tough as most of them. Her bubbly behavior evokes happy thoughts in my head.

At last, she seems to think of something other than the Avengers. "And your team?" She asks me, catching me by surprise. "What about them?" "Tell me about your team." I don't fully trust her, so I decide not to go into details. On the other hand, I really want to get my story out. "There are two geniuses, a hacker, a zombie, a assassin and a traitor." She stops walking. "A traitor?" she asks curiously. I raise an eyebrow. "How do you think I got here, in the middle of nowhere? He threw me of the plane." She gasps "How did you survive?" "Parachute, obviously." I say, rolling my eyes. "Then he's not a full traitor. If he gave you a parachute." She states in her childish innocence. "Keep dreaming kid." She asks me to tell her about him, but I refuse. "Then tell me about the Black Widow. What is she like?" We continue walking as I tell my story. "she's a great assassin. Not so great as a mom. But hey, she did quite a decent job at raising me. Better than some people here" I glare at her. She sticks out her tongue in response. "She trained me as soon as I could walk. I've seen all her faces, each undercover story, each betrayal. Not a very fun thing to watch when you're a kid." "You could've run away." "Like you? No way. I'm not a coward. I fight for what I believe in and I'm a shield for those who can't fight. I never hide." I state, reminding her of the fact that I am a fully operational S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "Screw you!" she yells at me. "I'm not a coward!" I ignore her drama. We walk further in silence. She making a lot of noise, as expression of her anger, I just follow her and the dog. After a while, her noisiness stops and I break the silence. "So, why did you run away?" She shrugs. "I lived in a little town in Texas," I sigh, not really wanting to hear her lives' story. "I didn't exactly have a nice childhood. At the age of eleven, I accidentally fell in the river. When I got out, I was miles away from home. Didn't feel like going back." I nod in understanding. Bad childhoods can ruin a person. _Like it did with Ward_. I think sadly. "So, you have a boyfriend?" She changes the subject not so smooth. "Do you?" "I have lived in the freaking wild for years. Do I look like I've got a boyfriend?" "I don't think the wild was your own problem at that point," I sass. Before she can get mad, I answer her question. "I do have a boyfriend. Too bad I tend to fall for the bad boys." She raises an eyebrow questionably. "He's the traitor. Didn't know that back then." Anger fills me up again, but I suppress it. "Are you going to give him a second chance?" I think about that for a moment. "Maybe" I finally answer. She doesn't respond, lost in her own thoughts. It's getting darker as the day comes to an end. "Shall we rest here?" I suggest, as we enter a clearing. She nods, laying on the ground tiredly. "I'm hungry." She whines. "Go suck on a rock or something. Don't expect me to have food." I snap, her dramatic behavior is getting annoying. "Right, I forgot. You fell from the sky." _Skye,_ I think, as I lay down too. _What will Ward tell her and the others about my fall? Do they think I'm dead? Have they told Natasha about it?_ I consider the fact that I'm totally on my own now. Or well, on my own with a unmannered girl and her dog. I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "What?" She asks, sitting back up. "Nothing, just thought about my new team." "Your new team?" "Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., I don't know who to trust." "Sure, but what team are you talking about?" She asks sleepily as she lays back down. "My team of non-agents. Containing a supernatural orphan, an alien, a weird fifteen year old girl and a big dog." "Well, the weird girl is flattered to be on your team," She snaps, although I can hear she's happy with it. "Big dog is keeping watch now. Good night." "Night" I mutter back, as I watch the sky and wait for the sleep to come.


	14. Chapter 14

I'm awake as soon as the sun rises. "Get up," I poke Helena with my foot. She groans and slowly gets up. "We need to move on. When will we reach a village?" Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she yawns. "Just a few hours." We start walking again. When we see some berries growing on a bush, we eat them as breakfast while we walk. I don't want to waste any time. At lunch time, we reach a small village. We walk in, looking for a place that sells food. "Morwen, people are staring at us." She whispers. "Probably because you look like you're a homeless person." "You're not miss fabulous yourself." She snaps, making me chuckle. "Can I help you, dear?" An old man asks. I politely nod. "Yes sir, please. My cousin and I got lost in the woods as our dog ran away." "O my, come dear. I'll take care of you." He leads us towards a small house. "Darling, we have guests," He says to an elderly woman standing in the kitchen. "Could you clean them as I make something to eat?" The woman comes rushing towards us. "By the merciful God, you look terrible. Come, girls, follow me." She leads us upstairs, to a little, but clean bathroom. I motion for Helena to go wash herself first. "Quickly girl, go clean yourself up. I'm Rosalia and you've already met my husband Peter. Now, what are your names?" I look at the her wrinkled, sweet face. _You can't trust anybody_. I remind myself. "I'm Ruby and this is my cousin Regina." I make up a story about how we got lost while 'Regina' takes a shower. The woman hands us some clothing and I take a quick shower too. All cleaned up, we sit at the kitchen table. Peter gives us some toast and eggs. "It's not much, but it'll fill your tummies." He apologizes for the small amount of food. "O sir, it is wonderful. Thank you very much." Helena seems to want to speak too, but I kick her underneath the table to shut her up. With her manners, she'll only piss them off.

When we've finished lunch, I try to give the old couple some of my money to thank them. However they recline, saying it was their duty to help. I thank them gratefully for their kindness. "So, where to next?" Helena asks me. I shrug. Then I see a warehouse. "Want to do some shopping?" She agrees happily, since we still look not so good. We both go our own way. Half an hour later, I've found two pair of jeans, a jacket, new boots and a few shirts. I find Helena in the jewelry part. "We don't have money or space for that, genius." "Well sorry for having a sense of fashion." She snaps. I roll my eyes and drag her along. Once we're outside again, we go back into the woods, where we change our clothes. I decide to wear my black short pants, black leather jacket and black high boots. They match my necklace. I put on the tank top I'd gotten myself. It's green with big black letters saying "Loki's girl". _The irony_. I chuckle while I step back into the clearing of the village again. Helena is already waiting. She's wearing skinny jeans and a black sweater. "Nice, but you'd better ditch the necklace. It draws attention." I clang to my necklace, not planning on putting it off. "You'd better ditch your face, it scares the whole town." To my surprise, she laughs. "Nice one, dickhead." _Seriously, this girl has no manners._ I think to myself. _Well, neither do I at the moment.._ We quickly head to the edge of the village, where we find a farmer that wants to give us a ride to the city nearby. Two hours later, we arrive. "Never heard of it." Helena mumbles, while petting Magic. We must be very far from her birth town. "What are we going to do now?" I look at the girl. I don't need her anymore, but I can't leave her like this. Sighing, I tell her my plan. "Listen, I don't know where my team is. So I want to go to Italy." "Why the fuck would you go there?" "Manners!" I warn her, pointing my finger at her. "Do you remember when I told you about my new team? The other girl lives in Italy. We're going to get her." She shrugs. "Whatever, I don't have any other plans." I grin at the lack of caring. The first thing I want to do before thinking about how we get there, is buying a telephone and laptop. After twenty minutes of searching, I've found one. "What are you doing?" She asks, as we sit in a bar and I pull out my laptop. "Nothing," I lie, playing innocent. She hits me on my arm. "Fine, I'm going to try to reach my coworker." "How the hell are you going to do that? You told me they're probably going into hiding if Hydra comes out of the shadows." "Ever heard of the Rising Tide?" She shakes her head. "I figured. Guess it's about time Miles gets back to his job again." With that, I start hacking into the Rising Tide member's server. Within seconds, he's on to me. After a short hacking fight, I get him to talk to me. Helena is silent as she watches me convince Miles into hacking Skye and telling her to call me. An hour later, my phone rings. "Skye?" I ask hopefully. "Morwen? Where are you? Are you ok? What happened?" She screams in my ear. Helena laughs at my pained look as I hold the phone a bit further from my ear. "Skye, calm down. Where are you?" We talk for a while, me trying to convince her it's really me and I'm not Hydra. At last, she gives me the coordinates to the secret hideout they're at. I want to tell her about Ward, but Helena takes the phone from me. "Enough chatting. I'm bored as fuck." She hangs up and throws the phone in her glass of water. I stare at her with my mouth open. "That," I slowly say. "Was the only chance I had to save my team from treason." "O fuck" she mutters. She jumps up and runs away. I storm after her. Just as she's outside the bar, I tackle her. I push her down on the ground, almost choking her. "Sorry" she gasps. _You need her_. I remind myself. So I let go, ashamed of my lack of anger management lately. "I have to go to my team," I state as I stand up, not bothering to pull her up as well. "I have to warn them." "What about the girl in Italy?" She asks, struggling to get up herself. I make a split second decision. "I want you to get her." "Wait, what?" Her eyes widen in shock and she takes a step back. Magic growls at me, sensing his boss' fear. "I can't do that." "Listen kid, it's your fault I can't go to her myself. So you do it instead. Understood?" She nods, seeing I mean it. I hand her some of my money. "Take it. Buy a plane ticket to Pisa. Take the train to Lucca. She's in the orphanage there. Tell her the Angel send her." She seems to want to make a comment to the angle part, but decides better not to. "What do I do when I've got her?" "Go into hiding. You're good at that." I see the struggle in her eyes. A responsibility like this isn't good for a kid. I look deep into her eyes."You can do this. I believe in you. Magic will protect you." She nods. I take out a piece of paper and scribble a message down. "Give this to the girl, her name is Emma. She can help you." Helena nods again. "I won't let you down." She promises. I hug her. "  
>You can do this. See you soon again, ok?" She nods and straightens her shoulders. Knowing I can't do more than that, I leave her.<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

I travel north, following small paths next to the road leading out of the woods. When I reach the edge I find a train station. I hide in the bushes in the dark until a train starts heading north and start running towards it as it leaves. I reach the last cabin, panting as I run at full speed. Reaching out, I grab the door of one of the cabins. With one large jump I launch myself into the cabin. I fall on the ground hard, luckily it is empty. I sit up and look around, but I can't make out many objects in the shadows of the cabin. I relax my tensed muscles and sit back. After a full week of laying on that hard floor and eating my spare food, the train slows down. I jump out of it before it fully comes to a stop. I walk around to loosen my cramped muscles before exploring. I'm at the edge of a big city. I creep around for a while and find out I'm at the northern edge of the United States. I break into an internet café and spend the rest of the night trying to contact my team trough some Rising Tide friends. Eventually I manage to get to Skye. We talk for a while, mostly about what happened after I left, before she decides it's safe to give me the location of their secret hideout. I want to ask her why on earth she's in a secret hideout, but something tells me now is not the time. I can here by her tone that she's still trying to deal with the fact that Hydra has come out of the shadows. She already knows Ward is a traitor, but refuses to tell me more. I let it go, deciding we will talk about it as I reach her. As we end the conversation, it's almost six in the morning. I clean up my mess as good as I can before going back to the train station.

I spend three whole weeks travelling. Sometimes by trains, mostly by foot. I even have to hijack a small plane. When I reach my destination, I'm a broken, dirty mess. I stop right where Skye's coordinates tell me the hideout should be. There is nothing here but snow and rocks. "Skye?" I call out, shivering from the cold. "Coulson? May?" Silently I curse myself for not dressing any warmer. "Anybody there?" After some minutes without response, I sink to my knees. The journey and the cold has brought me down. I don't have the energy to travel back or to even fight of any danger that might be in these woods. Suddenly a loud crack disturbs the silence. I lift my head a bit to look around. The stone wall is splitting in half, revealing a hallway on the other side. I want to shout, but only a sigh escapes my mouth. Three figures come running towards me. I try to fight them off, but stop wasting my last energy as they don't seem to attempt to hurt me. Warm hands grab me softly. "It's okay, we've got you." I recognize May's voice. She lifts me up and carries me inside. The warm air inside the building is a relief after the days filled with cold. I fade out, relaxing as I get carried further inside.

"There you are again, sleepyhead. How are you?" Skye is sitting at the edge of my bed. I look around to see that I'm in a plain, small room. "Great," I groan as I stretch my muscles. "What is this place? What happened to S.H.I.E.L.D.? Where is the rest of the team? What happened with Hydra?" I look around nervously. "Whoa, slow down. One question at the time." I shut up and look at her expectantly. With a barely noticable sigh, she starts explaining the whole situation. "Apparently Hydra has been hiding amongst SHIELD the whole time. They have come out of the shadows, lead by Garrett. Ward was his sidekick." She tells me about how Ward killed the man who can this place when the team came here. He had taken Skye to Garrett, but she managed to escape. "Of course, I didn't help them with getting the information they wanted. That was the only good thing that happened though. Besides the death of Garrett." She pauses for a moment before answering my first two questions. "SHIELD has fallen. All that's left are the few members and resources we have here." She is silent for a while, giving me time to process the information. I fell so disappointed. How could SHIELD have fallen in the first place? "Where is Fury?" "Death, and agent Rogers in on the run." I swallow loudly. "And Nat.. I mean agent Romanov?" She shakes her head and tells me she hasn't heard of her since SHIELD has fallen. The room suddenly appears too small for me. I jump off the bed and run out. "Morwen!" Skye calls after me, but I don't hear footstep following me. I run without knowing where I'm going. After what feels like a much too short time I bump into someone. We both fall on the ground. "Watch it!" I sneer, pushing the man off me. He lets out a short laugh and rolls over, pinning me to the ground underneath him. "Where have I seen your pretty face before?" He smiles, but something tells me it isn't meant reassuring. "Get off of me!" He presses his arm to my throat as a response. "I asked you something." His smiling face creeps me out. I try to fight myself free, but I'm still too exhausted from the journey. Eventually I give up. "I'm agent Romanov. Now get off!" His face is blank for a moment and his eyes darken. Then he slowly releases me and gets up. I get to my feet as well, eyeing him suspiciously. "I'm Hunter." He introduces himself, holding his hand out to shake. I just look at it before looking him in the eyes arrogantly. "So?" "I guess we're coworkers, so why not get to know each other better?" This man has managed to annoy me even more the past few minutes than Helena did in a whole day. "You're not my coworker. I work in Coulson's personal team. So back off." I walk away, leaving him to stand alone in the hallway.

After another hour of wandering around, I find something looking like a kitchen. I raid it quickly before someone feels the need to talk to me and annoy me again. The past month of solitude has made me a bit socially awkward. I find something resembling the old lab Fitzsimmons used to have, filled with high-tech stuff. As I enter the room, I see that I'm right. Fitz is working on some advanced machine. "Hey Fitz." I greet him, happy to see another familiar face. He looks up confused and awkward. "How do you guys get around in this place? It took me forever to find some food." I hold up the apple I'm eating. "I haven't been here as long as the others." I notice a slight stutter in his voice. "Where were you?" I ask casually while eating my apple. "The.." He snaps his fingers as if trying to remember something. My guts tell me not to push it, so I pretend to examine the machine he's building. "Hospital," He finally says. "Because of what happened." There is that slight stutter again. "Sucks man, I was in a forest and almost froze to death. Want to switch injuries?" He aggressively shakes his head. "I'm.. damaged." Stuttering he tells me how Ward indeed came out of the shadows. "Simmons and I hid in the..." I nod, not knowing what he means exactly but understanding the basics. "He dropped us from the plane in the ocean. We survived but I'm.. damaged." I guess he has brain damage, probably due to lack of oxygen. That would explain his struggle with speaking. I throw my apple away and turn to him. "Close your eyes." I tell him, pulling out my phone and ear plugs. "What are you doing?" "Trust me," He closes his eyes and I put the plugs in his ears. "Sing along." "What? No. I'm not going to.. sing. I can't speak," He sounds like he is going to cry, but I play the song anyways since he still has his eyes closed. "Trust me, Fitz." I tell him reassuringly, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I do, Simmons but I can't sing." I let go of him and press play. He doesn't open his eyes to my relieve. If he did, he would see my shocked face which wouldn't do him any good. Fitz frowns a bit as he recognizes the song. After more than a minute he finally begins to hum along. I lean back and watch him casually while he starts getting into the music more and more. After a few songs he is actually singing along, quietly but still. I've slowly raised the volume to the point where he can't hear himself or his surroundings. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I turn around to see a huge guy entering the room. He eyes me suspiciously but I shrug casually. "Agent Romanov, special division. I'm helping my partner Fitz over here. Please care to close the door softly as you leave," His body language turns to aggressive and he opens his mouth to speak but I shut him up with a movement of my hand. "I'm under the directors direct orders. If you want to disobey, that's fine with me but talk to the boss first." He eyes me for a moment more, then turns to leave. Unfortunately Hunter comes in too, disturbing my little performance. "You again? Seriously you show up one day and start causing trouble everywhere, what is wrong with you?" His smile seems honest this time. However, big guy doesn't seem to enjoy this as much. "You're not a true agent. You're an intruder!" I try to look like I'm still in control. "How did you get in here?" Asks Hunter, looking amused and curious. Fitz still doesn't seem to notice what is happening, humming quietly to himself with eyes closed. I smile slightly and look back at the handsome blonde agent. "Intruda-window." He starts laughing rather hysterically, making me chuckle too. He sends away the big guy, telling him to ask Coulson for a debriefing. "So, you're not Hydra right?" Hunter's careful approach is back again. I lean back against the table, knowing I'm in control of the situation again. "Nope, just plain assassin working for SHIELD." He moves closer until he's almost touching me. I stay still, trying not to appear tensed and stressed. He caresses my hair and I let him, not trusting him but knowing he has to be one of Coulson's loyal men. Therefore I have to give him a chance. "Interesting," His warm breath warms my face. "Please, tell me more?" I fake a smile. My eyes stay fixed on his as I try to regain control. I'm afraid I've lost the upper hand, since I'm the one having a knife pressed to my throat.


End file.
